Body of one of two missing friends recovered after riverbank collapse in Meghna

The body of one of the two friends missing after the collapse of the bank of the Meghna river in Bhola, named Md Rakib, 27, has been recovered. However, Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) member Md Amjad is still missing.

The body of Rakib was recovered from the Meghna river adjoining Ramgati upazila of Lakshmipur around 10:30am on Friday (September 11). Officer-in-Charge (OC) of Bhola’s Ilisha River Police Station Syed Ashikur Rahman confirmed the matter in the evening.

Earlier the accident occurred around 8pm on Wednesday (September 9) due to the collapse of the bank of the Meghna river in Shantirhat area of Shibpur Union of Bhola. The deceased Rakib was the son of Babul of Sardar Bari adjoining Shantirhat Bazar.

Police informed that while fishing in the Meghna river the fishermen saw a body floating and informed the river police. Later police went to the spot and recovered the body. Getting the news the relatives went to Ramgati and identified the body as that of Rakib. After completing the legal process the body will be handed over to the relatives.

According to local sources, at the time of the incident a total of five friends including Amjad, Rakib, Fahim and Shaon were sitting and chatting on the bank of the Meghna river. At one stage a portion of the riverbank along with the geobag installed by the Water Development Board suddenly collapsed and fell into the river. As a result all five fell into the strong current of the Meghna.

Among them three managed to swim to the bank but Amjad and Rakib went missing. Later along with the locals, members of Fire Service, Coast Guard, river police and law enforcement agencies started the rescue operation. However, no trace of the two missing friends was found until the recovery of Rakib’s body.

After the recovery of Rakib’s body the operation to rescue Amjad is still ongoing.