Ban on swimming at St Martin's

The local administration of Saint Martin's Island has temporarily banned tourists from swimming in the Bay of Bengal.

Cox's Bazar Correspondentbdnews24.com
Published : 17 April 2014, 04:35 PM
Updated : 17 April 2014, 04:35 PM

The decision follows a tragedy at the island that took the lives of four private university students when they went swimming last Monday.

Another two are still missing and are feared dead.

The decision came on Thursday at a meeting of the district beach management committee at the Cox's Bazar deputy commissioner's office.

The committee said visitors to the island would not be allowed to swim until the dangerous areas on the coast were identified.

It also decided to appoint trained beach workers and life guards for the beaches in Saint Martin's, a step that has already been taken at the Cox's Bazar beach.

The coastguards and other relevant authorities would be asked to enforce this ban, it said.

The committee also decided to take new measures to ensure the safety of the tourists, including distribution of warning leaflets.

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

On Apr 14, the day of the Bengali New Year, all of them went to the sea. Nine of them were swept away by a huge surge.

Locals and coast guards rescued five of them.

Two of those rescued – Monfezul Islam and Saddam Hossain – died later. On Wednesday, the coastguards found the bodies of two others.