British journalist to swim Bangla Channel for awareness about drowning in Bangladesh

British journalist Becky Horsbrugh is going to swim across the 16-kilometre Bangla Channel from Teknaf to the Saint Martin’s Island in the Bay of Bengal to raise awareness about drowning in Bangladesh.

Asia producer of the American news agency The Associated Press or AP, she told a media briefing in Dhaka Reporters Unity on Thursday that she is going to be the first Briton to swim the channel.

Noting that Brojen Das was the first Bengali to swim across English Channel in 1958, she said, “I am really excited!”

Horsbrugh said she wanted to raise awareness about drowning in Bangladesh after seeing a report that 50 children drown in the country every day while the number is only 15 annually in the UK.

She is also raising a fund for Centre for Injury Prevention and Research, Bangladesh or CIPRB, which has set up swim schemes in the country to help keep children safe around water.

CIPRB is also planning to get Musa Ibrahim, the first Bangladeshi mountaineer to scale Mount Everest, on board its campaign.

 

Musa, who was present at the briefing, said Horsbrugh will start swimming from Shah Porir Dwip island jetty at 8:30am on Sunday and end the journey at Saint Martin’s Island jetty.  

The AP’s Bangladesh Bureau Chief Julhas Alam said drowning was one of the top contributors to deaths of children in Bangladesh besides communicable diseases.

“We don’t know about the issue or care about it. Horsbrugh wants to raise awareness about the issue,” he said.

CIPRB Associate Director Jahangir Hossain also spoke at the presser.