<i>Searchers in the murky depths</i>

Shimul, 24, left, leads a four-man diving team, equipped with locally made gears, in search of valuables in the Buriganga riverbed for a livingPhoto: Anisur Rahman

They are known as khoji, literally 'those who search for something'. Skilled divers, they use locally made oxygen cylinders and masks to dive underwater, searching for valuables or for the bodies of passengers from capsized launches and boats.
Without professional training or certificates, they don't even have diving suits. Wearing lungis and equipped with pipeline-supplied oxygen from a cylinder on a boat, they plunge into the murky waters. Whenever there is a launch disaster in rivers like Buriganga, Padma and Meghna, or boat goes down at sea, these self-trained divers are hired for the rescue operation by the Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority and Navy.
Shimul, 24, is the lead diver in a group of four. He learnt the trade from his elder brother when he was a boy of 10 years. Describing the way they work, Shimul said the oxygen cylinder, which costs around Tk60,000, is set up on a big boat and the divers use a pipeline to supply of oxygen under the water. Each diver is also tied with a rope. Divers make signals with the rope if there is any danger under the water and people on the boat pull them up.
Shimul said its possible for a diver to spend at least one and half-hour under the water at a time using the pipeline supplied oxygen. On average, divers earn Tk 300 per day.
"We search the riverbed of the Buriganga all year round for valuables which are dropped overboard by passengers on launches and boats. If luck favours, we find something valuable, like a bag, but on other occasions we find nothing," Shimul, said.