Two children drown in Sylhet canal after ‘accidental fall’

Police say they were following a relative when they fell into the canal

Two children have drowned in a canal in Sylhet's Jaintapur Upazila.

The deaths were reported around 2pm on Friday in Rahur Khal of Shikarkhan village in Fatehpur Union, said Jaintapur Police chief Mohammad Mahbubur Rahman Molla.

One of the victims is known only as Rafa, 6, daughter of Kabir Ahmed. The other was identified only as son Munna, 7, son of Saleh Ahmed's. They were cousins.

The two were following one of their uncles, who was going to a field to graze cattle, said officer Mahbubur.

When the man asked them to return home, the children accidentally fell into the canal, he added.

Later, family members rescued them and rushed them to the hospital, where doctors declared them dead.

An unnatural death case was filed over the drowning.