Flood Worsening: Mother drowns, her children missing

Fire service yesterday recovered the body of a woman who was washed away in a strong torrent with her two children while crossing a river at Chayar Hoar of Shalla upazila in Sunamganj district.

The body was identified to be of the 30-year-old Durlab Rani Das, wife of Rathindra Das from Bilpur Village of Habibpur Union of the upazila.

Her two children -- Joba Rani, aged 7, and Bijay Das, aged 5 -- remain missing. Efforts are underway to recover the missing children, said Abu Taleb, upazila nirbahi officer of Shalla upazila.

Subrata Das, a local who witnessed the incident, said he requested the woman not to cross the river, which had a strong current that submerged its culvert. She did not pay heed.

Meanwhile, water level in Jamuna River has been swelling to dangerous levels, inundating low-lying areas.

The water is flowing at Sirajganj hard point at 11.85 metres, which is just 1.05 metres below the danger level, according to the Water Development Board. At another point, where the danger level is 14.8 metres, water is flowing at 13.17 metres.

The water level has been rising in the last two days and is likely to increase over the next two to three days to the danger level, said Ronojit Kumar Sarkar, sub-divisional engineer of Sirajganj WDB.

The low-lying areas down the river have been submerged, with no one affected yet, he said.

Our Moulovibazar and Pabna Correspondent contributed to the report