No trace of the 4 students missing in St Martin's island

The four students of Ahsanullah University of Science and Technology (AUST) who went missing in the Bay of Bengal near St Martin’s Island on Monday are still untraced.

Thirty-four students of the Department of Computer Science and Engineering (CSE) from the university had been to the island, near Cox’s Bazar, on an excursion and had checked into local ‘Senjun Hotel’.

All of them went to the sea on Monday afternoon. Nine of them were swept away by a surge of water. Locals and coast guards rescued five of them, while the remaining four went missing.

Two of the rescued students – Monfezul Islam and Saddam Hossain – died later.

A team of Coast Guard, navy divers, and local administrative personnel were conducting the search operation in the Bay.

Lt Kazi Harun-ur-Rashid, Coast Guard Station Commander in Teknaf, told reporters that they would keep searching until the four missing students were traced.

Prof Abdullah Al Mamun, Chairman of the CSE Department of the university, who rushed to St Martin’s island following the mishap, told bdnews24.com: “We’ve nothing to do at this moment but wait for the rescuers to find the missing students.”

Four students – Sabbir Hassan, Shahriar Rahman, Udoy Mahmud and Golam Rahim Bappy – are still missing.

The three other rescued students – Farhanul Haque, Asif Mostafa and Iftekhar Mahmud Faisal, undergoing treatment at Cox’s Bazar Sadar Hospital, were now out of danger, the hospital’s Medical Officer Amir Siraji said.

Prof Mamun said that the students had not informed the university authorities about their visit. They had arranged trip on their own to celebrate Pahela Baishakh, the first day of the Bangla New Year, after their exams ended.

He said that 24 of the students who had gone on the excursion left for Dhaka on Tuesday afternoon.

Sunviraj Haque, a student of the Department of Electrical and Electric Engineering at the university, told bdnews24.com: “After their BSc examinations ended on April 9, they decided to celebrate Pahela Baishakh at St Martin’s island on their own.”

Meanwhile, the body of Monfezul Islam was brought home to Birhali village at Pirganj Upazila in Thakurgaon district, his father Maksudul Alam said.
Monfezul was the younger of two brothers.

The namaz-e-janaza (funeral prayer) of Saddam Hossain would be held at their ancestral home in Tejturi area in the city on Tuesday evening, his father Golam Faruk said.