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The body of another tourist, Mohammad Harun, 20, who went missing while bathing in the sea at Cox’s Bazar, was recovered from Pechar Dwip beach in Himchari under Ramu upazila on Thursday morning.
The body was recovered around 10am on October 22, taking the death toll from the incident to four. One person remains missing.
Dolon Acharya, station officer of the Cox’s Bazar Fire Service, confirmed the recovery.
The incident occurred around 5pm on Wednesday at a beach near the Himchari Marina Resort museum, about 18 kilometres from Cox’s Bazar town along the Marine Drive.
According to police and beach workers, three university students from Dhaka had travelled to Cox’s Bazar with friends during the holidays. They were swept away after entering the sea. Two bodies were recovered shortly after the incident, while another student remains missing. Two young men who had travelled from Chattogram also died in the same incident.
Fire Service personnel, police and lifeguards are continuing the search for the missing student. The bodies of the four victims have been kept at the Cox’s Bazar Sadar Hospital morgue, said Sub-Inspector Solaiman Hossain of the Himchari police outpost.
The deceased have been identified as university students Al Mahibur Ibn Mokarram, 24, and Saibul Haque Jisan, 23, and Chattogram-based workers Mohammad Akash, 21, and Mohammad Harun, 20. Missing student SM Nafisur Rahman Nibir, 23, is a third-year student in the Computer Science and Engineering Department at North South University. Rakib Hasan, 19, was rescued in critical condition and admitted to Cox’s Bazar Sadar Hospital.
Mahbub Alam, supervisor of the district administration’s beach workers, said seven friends from Dhaka’s Uttara had set out for Bandarban on October 18. After spending two days there, they arrived in Cox’s Bazar around 11:30am on Wednesday and checked into a resort near the Pechar Dwip museum in Himchari.
After lunch, the group entered the sea around 4pm. None of them knew how to swim. When they saw two other people struggling in the water, the friends went to help, but they too were caught in the strong current. Local people rushed to their aid and recovered three bodies.
Sub-Inspector Solaiman Hossain said Jisan was a student in the Computer Science and Engineering Department at the Islamic University of Technology (IUT), while Al Mahibur was a BBA student at Bangladesh University of Professionals (BUP).
Nibir’s family left for Cox’s Bazar after learning of the incident, his aunt Shamima Sultana said.
Mohammad Sani, a friend of Akash, said they worked at a factory in Chattogram and had travelled to Cox’s Bazar in a group of five. They were bathing in knee-deep water when a large wave suddenly struck and swept them away.
“We were all struggling in the water, and the sand was slipping from beneath our feet,” Sani said, adding that five or six people managed to reach the shore while others were rescued with help from locals.
Nine people have died after entering the sea to bathe at Cox’s Bazar beach so far this year, while another tourist remains missing, according to the report. Lifeguard services are available only along a three-kilometre stretch covering Laboni, Sugandha and Kalatali beaches in Cox’s Bazar town.
