Sea beach lifeguard service to close: What it means for tourist safety

The private organisation Sea-Safe Lifeguard, which is saving the lives of tourists at Cox's Bazar sea beach, is shutting down its services from 30 September due to a fund crisis.

As a result, the risk for tourists bathing in the sea will increase from 1 October. And there will be no initiative to rescue tourists swept away by the current. Additionally, 35 people, including 27 lifeguards, will lose their jobs.

The international (UK) organisation “Royal National Lifeboat Institution” (RNLI) has been funding the Sea-Safe Lifeguard service on the beach since 2012.

In the last 12 years, 27 lifeguard staff have rescued at least 807 tourists from being swept away by the current on the five-kilometre stretch from Kolatoli to Laboni Point.

During the same time, bodies of 65 people who were swept away by tidal channels or currents were recovered.

Speaking about this, the supervisor of Sea-Safe Lifeguard, Sifat Saifullah, said that five people were rescued and their lives were saved on Monday and Tuesday when they were swept away at the Sugandha and Laboni Points of the beach.

According to him, in the first eight months of this year, 11 tourists died while bathing on the beach. Furthermore, another 11 people were rescued after being swept away by the current.

Around 3:00 pm on 7 September, Zuhayer Ayman, 17, a college student from Bogura, went missing while bathing in the sea at Laboni Point. He was the son of Md. Shariful Islam, who is a cousin of cricketer Mushfiqur Rahim. The next day his body was found floating at Samitipara beach.

On 7 July, at 6:45 am, three students from Chittagong University– Aritra Hasan, KM Sadman Rahman, and Asif Ahmed–were swept away by the current while bathing in the sea at Himchari beach, near Pechar Dwip on the Cox's Bazar-Teknaf Marine Drive.

Two hours later, KM Sadman Rahman’s body was found floating on the Himchari beach. Around 9:00 am on the next day on 8 July, Asif Ahmed’s body was found on the Nazirar Tek Shutki Mahal beach, about 15 kilometres north of the location where he went missing from in Ward No. 1 of Cox’s Bazar pourashava.

However, even after more than two months, there has been no trace of Aritra Hasan.

The news of the service closure has put the lifeguards in a difficult situation, and tourists are also disappointed.

According to the hotel owners, at least seven million (70 lakhs) people visit Cox's Bazar beach every year. While the five-kilometre stretch has lifeguard service, another 115 kilometres of the beach remain unprotected.

The regional manager of the Sea-Safe Lifeguard, Imtiaz Ahmed, told Prothom Alo that due to a fund shortage, the Sea-Safe project’s term had expired in December last year. Considering the safety of tourists, with the initiative of Cox’s Bazar deputy commissioner, the donor organisation extended the project for six months until last June. It was extended for a second time for another three months until 30 September. Due to a lack of funding, the lifeguard service is closing down this September. The organisation used to provide per month an average Tk 1.4 million (14 lakhs) for the 35 officials including 27 lifeguards. It required nearly Tk 15 million (1.5 crore) annually.

In this context, deputy commissioner Mohammad Salahuddin told Prothom Alo that the Ministry of Tourism has been informed about the closure of the lifeguard service this September due to a fund shortage. The ministry’s directive is that the lifeguard service must be continued through the hotels in the beach area. The district administration has also held a meeting with hotel owners on this matter.

The hotel owners were told that the lifeguard service must be maintained with funding from the hotels. In this case, large (star) hotels in the beach area will have to pay the salaries for three lifeguards, and smaller hotels will have to pay for one.

He pointed out that the hotel management policy mentions the issue of running the lifeguard service.

The DC further said that current lifeguards will be given priority in recruitment, as they are experienced and trained for a long time.

However, the hotel owners are not willing to accept this decision of the district administration.

The general secretary of the Cox's Bazar Hotel-Resort Owners Association, Mukim Khan, told Prothom Alo that even though the Ministry of Tourism and the district administration have given instructions to operate 27 lifeguards under the management of hotel owners, it is doubtful whether the hotel owners will be able to provide Tk 1.4-1.5 million a month. No one is responding to that. Even if they respond to this proposal, it will be time-consuming. In this case, it will not be possible to start the lifeguard service from next October.

Hotel owners also said that if the lifeguard service is shut down, tourists will face security threats. The 6-7 million people who visit the beach from different parts of the country every year will decrease. It is necessary to continue the lifeguard service under a government initiative.

During a visit to the Sugandha Point of the beach last Wednesday afternoon, it was seen that more than 20,000 people were in the sea, taking a bath. A few lifeguards were providing security to the tourists by sitting on their high chairs, standing on the sand, or in waist-deep water. If any tourist was thrown from their tube by a wave, the lifeguards would immediately rescue them.

The lifeguards wear red and yellow T-shirts and pants. They have a whistle in their mouth and rescue equipment in their hands.

Nasiruddin, a businessperson from the Demra in Dhaka, was sitting on a beach chair along with his wife and three children and watching the bathing of tourists in the sea. When someone was about to be swept away by a wave, he screamed.

Nasiruddin, 55, said that without lifeguards, it is easy to guess how many tourists would have died. He heard that lifeguards will no longer be there from October, so what will happen to the tourists then?

Lifeguard Akram Tripura was warning tourists by blowing a whistle at Sugandha Point on Wednesday afternoon. His home is in Lama, Bandarban. He lives in a rented house in the Lighthouse area of the town with his wife and two children.

Akram Tripura, who has been providing lifeguard service for 11 years, said, I am struggling to manage my family with a salary of Tk 20,000. I can't imagine how I will manage my family if I lose my job.

Joynal Abedin from Naikhongchhari and Md. Osman from Samitipara in Cox’s Bazar have also been providing lifeguard services for the same amount of time. There are five and seven members of their families respectively.

Md. Osman said, “When a tourist is swept away in the sea, we risk our lives to save them, and now our own lives are at risk. We have no one to save us.”

Joynal Abedin said that he alone has saved the lives of 98 tourists since 2014 and recovered the bodies of 10 people. For him, there are no other jobs in the area to support a family except being a lifeguard. He will now have to be unemployed after receiving lifeguard training.