Children drowning double in Patuakhali

Child deaths due to drowning have doubled in Patuakhali in one year.

A total of 29 children died by drowning in 2020 but the number rose to 56 in 2021.

At that time, 168 children survived even though they were about to drown.

And in January this year, seven children drowned in the district.

Among the 29 deaths in eight upazilas of the district in 2020, nine were in Dashmina, eight in Kalapara, four in Baufal, three each in Dumki and Mirzaganj and two in Galachipa upazila.

Most of the incidents occurred between morning and afternoon in water bodies near their homes.

The average age of the victims was below six years.

In 2021, the death rate almost doubled.

At that time 17 out of 56 children drowned in Dashmina upazila, 10 children drowned in Kalapara, nine in Baufal, eight each in Dumki and Galachipa and three in Mirzaganj.

A two-year-old boy Niloy Majhi drowned in Pashchim Laxmipur village in Dashmina upazila on January 15 this year.

The child's father Bimal Majhi said Niloy was playing with other children near to yard of the house around 10:00am.

Suddenly, he could not be found anywhere. About an hour later, his floating body was recovered from a pond near the yard.

"The pond was unfenced," he said.

"If the pond had been netted, my child would not have drowned," he added.

Nahid Akhter, communications manager at the Centre for Injury Prevention and Research (CIPRB), a non-government organisation working to prevent infant mortality, said 60 per cent of deaths by drowning in the country occur between 9:00am and 1:00pm.

Therefore, if the children are kept in a safe shelter at this time, it is possible to prevent infant mortality, said the manager.

Patuakhali Civil Surgeon SM Kabir Hossain said a campaign is being launched to raise awareness to prevent child deaths by drowning.

Ponds will be fenced with net and unnecessary ponds next to the homesteads will be filled up with soil.

Besides, teaching children swimming after a certain age should be turned into a social movement, he added.