Two Second-Grade Schoolgirls Drown in a Pond in Bhola's Borhanuddin

Two schoolgirls have drowned tragically while bathing in a household pond in Borhanuddin upazila of Bhola. The incident took place around 10am on Friday (23 October) in Ward No. 3 of Manika Union in the upazila. What began as a holiday-morning dip in the pond ended up taking the lives of both children.

The two children who died are Mosammat Maha (8) and Mosammat Tanha Akter (9). Maha's father's name is Md Shahin and Tanha's father's name is Abdul Gani. Both lived in the same neighbourhood and were playmates, according to what is known.

Both children were second-grade students at Manikarhat Government Primary School. The deaths of two classmates from the same class in this way have cast a pall of grief over the school and the locality.

Relatives of the children said the two girls went to bathe in the household pond on Friday morning. At one point they slipped from the pond's ghat into deep water and went under. As they could not swim, they never came back up.

After a while, Tanha's body floated to the surface. Seeing it, panic spread among family members and local people. Locals and relatives then got into the pond and, searching, recovered Maha's body as well.

Borhanuddin Police Station's Officer-in-Charge (OC) Md Ashraf Ali confirmed the deaths of the two schoolgirls. This is the initial information the police have provided about the incident.

In rural Bengal, the pond beside the house has always been a risky place for children. Without adult supervision during bathing or play, small children can easily slip from the ghat into deep water — the Borhanuddin incident stands as another sorrowful example of that familiar danger.

With two families losing their daughters on the same morning, an atmosphere of mourning hangs over that part of Manika Union. The wailing of relatives has made the whole village heavy with grief.