Child dies after falling into sewer after mother’s hand slips

A child named Smriti (8) died after falling into a sewer amid waterlogging caused by heavy rains in Comilla city. The incident took place at around 9 pm yesterday (June 21) in the city’s Chhotara Paschimpara Eidgah area. The deceased child Smriti is the daughter of Billal Hossain of Kaliajuri Badarpur area.
According to eyewitnesses and local sources, while walking with her mother on the footpath at night, Smriti slipped from her mother’s hand through a gap in a broken slab of the flooded road and fell into the sewer. Then the people around quickly started trying to rescue her. After about 10 to 15 minutes, the child was rescued while stuck inside the sewer, but she died by then.
Locals alleged that sewer cleaning and repair work was going on in the area. In some places, the sewer lids were open and many slabs were broken. As the road was submerged due to continuous rain, the open sewers and broken slabs submerged under water, which poses a serious risk to pedestrians. Touhidul Anwar, officer-in-charge (OC) of Comilla Kotwali Model Police Station, said, “Police have been sent to the scene. It is an accident.”