Teenager gives birth to child on boat in flood-hit Kurigram

A teenager has given birth to a child on a boat in the northern district of Kurigram, in a desperate incident that mirrors the conditions of people marooned in floods.

Ahsan Habib Nilu Kurigrambdnews24.com
Published : 19 August 2017, 11:26 AM
Updated : 19 August 2017, 11:26 AM

Anwara, aged around 18, was struck by labour pain on Aug 10 and gave birth to a son with the help of a midwife on a boat floating in floodwaters.

On Aug 9, floodwaters started to seep into her house in Baladoba village under Ulipur Upazila, now cut off by the overflowed Brahmaputra River.

Anwara, her parents and three siblings were forced to take shelter on a boat as the water soon swelled to their chest level.

"We were stranded amid floodwaters. It was dark all around and I had no clue what to do," said the newborn's maternal grandmother Aklima Begum while narrating the frantic moments to bdnews24.com.

"I called a midwife who also came on a boat and then finally my grandson Al-Amin was born.”

But another crisis hit just the next moment when the mother, suffering from malnutrition, could not breastfeed the child.

"We have been stranded in floodwaters for 10 days now. We hardly get a meal a day," said Aklima.

"Initially we managed some goat milk but the cattle were taken to safety later. We are still here because we don't want to leave our house."

Anwara was married to Mahbubur Rahman, a day labourer, two years back.

Rahman left Anwara at her parents' place when she was eight months pregnant. 

The news is yet to be delivered to the father as floods damaged all communication links around the village.

The journalists present there made small contributions to help the poverty-stricken, flood-hit new mother.