Four go missing as boat overturns in Chattogram floodwater

At least four people, including three children, have gone missing after a boat overturned in the floodwater caused by heavy rain in Chattogram’s Satkania.

The incident occurred at ward No. 7 in Charti Union on Tuesday, said Union Parishad Chairman Ruhullah Chowdhury. All villages in his union were submerged in floodwater, he said.

“Eight people, including women and children, were travelling by boat to Suipura from South Charti on Tuesday evening. The boat turned upside down when hit by a strong current and all the passengers fell in the water. Four of them saved themselves, while four others, including three children, went adrift.”

The section of the highway from Satkania’s Keranihat to Chandnaishpur was submerged by floodwater, halting the bus operation on the Chattogram-Cox’s Bazar highway on Tuesday, reports bdnews24.com.

Most traffic was barred from the highway on Wednesday as well. A few people waded through the water or used rickshaw vans to travel.

Bangladesh has been experiencing heavy rain for the last few days as the monsoon wind is active over the country. People in the vast swathes of Chattogram and Cox’s Bazar are suffering the most due to the heavy downpours.

The rain in Chattogram began last Thursday. On Saturday, a five-year-old child died in Bashkhali’s Boilgaon after a wall caved in. A university student died drowning in floodwater in Lohagara on Monday and a college student died in Hathazari. In a separate incident, a trader drowned in flood water in Rowjan and his body was recovered after three days on Wednesday.

Among the 15 upazilas in Chattogram, South Satkania, Bashkhali, Patiya, Anowara, Rowjan, Rangunia, Sitakunda, Meersarai, Hathazari, and Fatikchhari have seen most of their areas inundated. Farmland, vegetable patches, cattle, and poultry farms - everything has been flooded.

New areas of the port city began to be inundated on Sunday. Key areas of the city were waterlogged.

Water started to flood points on the Chattogram-Hathazari highway and Chattogram-Cox’s Bazar highway on Monday.

 “The city is now waterlogged while all upazilas, except for Fatikchhari, are flooded,” Chattogram Deputy Commissioner Abul Bashar Mohammad Fakhruzzaman told the media on Tuesday.

 “Satkania and Lohagara were the two upazilas most affected.”

Army personnel were working to help the flood-affected people in Satkania and Lohagara.

District Relief and Rehabilitation Officer Md Saifullah Majumdar said the damage initially amounted to Tk 1.35 billion.