1 body found, 2 missing in danger zone
The body of one of the three tourists, who went missing while bathing beside the Cox's Bazar sea beach on Wednesday, was found floating yesterday about 1.5 kilometres off Laboni Point.
Shahed, 21, along with his friends Azim and Sohel from Geneva Camp in Dhaka went missing while bathing in the danger zone at Laboni Point.
His body surfaced at Diabetic Hospital Point in the morning.
The fate of the other two missing youths remained unknown, said Mostafa Kamal, director of Yasir Lifeguard Station, a local private organisation of lifeguards.
Over 300 tourists have been rescued from undersea gorges in the danger zone near the beach over the last two days as nearly one lakh tourists flocked to Cox's Bazar to spend Eid and Puja vacations there, said Kamal, a retired official of Bangladesh Navy.
He said many tourists venture into underwater gorges out of joy ignoring warnings from the authorities.
Kamal said he has not seen such a huge number of tourists there in the last seven years.
“I think around 30,000 tourists came to the beach between 8:00am and 5:00pm yesterday [Wednesday],” he said
He said the authorities have put up banners at Laboni Point warning tourists about the danger of undersea gorges but many of them don't pay heed to it.
“Even red flags are hoisted during low tide to warn tourists but many in groups swim at that time ignoring the warning,” he said.
Kamal said thousands of tourists have also flocked to Teknaf, Maheshkhali, Dulahazara Safari Park, Inani and Himchhari.
Abul Kashem Shikder, general secretary of Hotel, Motel and Guesthouse Owners' Association, said all 250 hotels and motels in beach areas in Cox's Bazar are now crowded with tourists and the inflow would continue for at least 10 days.
Superintendent of Police Md Shakhawat Hossain said they have deployed patrol teams at 10 tourist spots to ensure safety of tourists.
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