Five young girls drowned while taking a bath in the Mara Pagla River, a tributary of the Padma, at Char Chakla village in Chapainawabganj Sadar Upazila on Friday afternoon.
The victims have been identified as Sumaiya, 10, and Ariba, 8, daughters of Md Masud; Sumi, 12, and Suraiya, 9, daughters of Nemaj; and Sharifa, 12, the only daughter of Shariful, all residents of Char Chakla village.
Local residents said the children slipped away to the river around 1:30 pm without informing their families, taking advantage of the quiet while villagers were attending Friday Jummah prayers.
Unaware that the girls had entered the water, family members and locals only realised what had happened when the children failed to return. A frantic search was launched, and villagers managed to retrieve their bodies from the water shortly afterwards.
“Taking advantage of the quiet during Jummah prayers, the children went to the river to bathe without telling anyone,” said Abdul Halim Hammad, a resident of the village. “At first, no one knew they had drowned. Once we realised, villagers rushed to search the water and pull them out.”
Local Union Parishad Chairman Hafizur Rahman confirmed the tragedy, stating that the children drowned one after another after stepping into the river.
The Mara Pagla River is locally known as a ‘dead river’. For much of the year, it remains largely dry, with the riverbed routinely used for agricultural cultivation. However, recent heavy monsoon rains and rising water levels in the Padma have flooded the branch, turning the normally shallow stream into a deep and dangerous body of water.
Ekramul Hossain, Officer-in-Charge of Chapainawabganj Sadar Model Police Station, said a police team was dispatched to the scene upon receiving word of the deaths. He added that officers are gathering further details as the community mourns the loss.
