Published: 11:14 AM, 19 September 2026
Bangladeshi student drowns in India; friendship endures even in death
Two friends swept away in the Mahananda River in India while going for a swim on September 13, 2026.
On Tuesday (September 15), a joint team of the National Disaster Response Force and the State Disaster Response Force recovered the two bodies from a location approximately 200 meters away from the Mahananda Barrage in Phulbari. The deceased have been identified as Safayet Hossain Naushad, a Bangladeshi student from Sonarampur village under Mohanganj upazila of Netrokona, and Pranjajyoti, from Mekhliganj under Cooch Behar of India. Their friendship began on a school bench, and it seemed to end together in death.
The witnesses including school teachers, local residents, and the rescue team were moved to tears upon seeing that the boys had been holding hands, seemingly trying to save each other in their final moments.Sarwar Hossain Talukdar, Naushad's father, confirmed these details. He said, "I cannot put into words how difficult it is for a father to carry his child's body.
"The body of Safayet Hossain Naushadwas laid to rest on Friday afternoon at his village graveyard under Mohanganj upazila in Netrokona.
To mention, on Sunday evening (on September 13, 2026, three friends including the deceased students and Dibyanshu Das from Malda went out from their school hostel in Phulbari. Subsequently, the three of them went to the Mahananda Barrage together to bathe. Shortly thereafter, three of them suddenly began to drown near the barrage. Fishermen who had come to the river to fish saw the incident and jumped into the water. They managed to rescue one student, Divyansh, but the other two sank into such deep water that they could not be found.
>>Indrajit Sarkar, AA
