Four children drown in canal, buried together in Narsingdi

Four children who drowned in a canal in Raipura, Narsingdi, were buried side by side after a joint funeral on Thursday evening. Even before the grief could subside, two more children drowned in the Meghna river in the same upazila on Friday morning.

The joint funeral of the four children — Tabia, 13; Ayesha, 9; Jannat, 8; and Sumaiya, 10 — was held at the Eidgah ground in Borkanda village, Chandarkandi union, Raipura upazila. They were later buried side by side in four graves at the local graveyard.

The four were students of the local Gausia Nure Madina Women's Madrasa. They lived close to each other and played together. None of them knew how to swim.

Their families, all extremely poor, said the canal had no water in the dry season but filled up during the monsoon. The children went to bathe without informing anyone.

After the families' request, the bodies were handed over without autopsies. Each family received Tk 20,000 in immediate financial assistance from the upazila administration.

On Friday morning, two more children — Jannati Akhter, 8, and Nipa Akhter, 7 — drowned in the Meghna river in the Veluarchar area of Shrinagar union. They were declared dead upon arrival at Raipura Upazila Health Complex.

Raipura Police Station OC Mojibur Rahman said legal procedures regarding Friday's incident are ongoing.