2 minors drown in Padma

Two minors including a girl were drowned in Padma river in Radhakanto village of Pabna sadar upazila on Friday.

The deceased are Jim, 9, son of a certain Amirul Hossain and Akhi, 8, daughter of one Alam Sardar of the village.

Jim and Akhi drowned while they were playing on the river bank at noon, said Goutam Kumar Biswas, additional superintendent of police in Pabna.

Soon after the incident, locals began search operation and the body of Jim was recovered in the evening but Akhi could not be found till 10:00pm due to high tide in the river, the officer added.

Taraq Eko, station officer of fire service and civil defence in the district, said they were informed about the incident around 8:30 pm.

They could not initiate the rescue operation due to the shortage of divers in the station, he said adding that they would begin the operation on Saturday morning.