First Bangladeshi girl who crosses Bangla Channel

Being the first Bangladeshi girl, sixteen year old Mitu Akhtar has crossed the Bangla Channel, with a length of 16.1 kilometres from Shah Porir Dwip of Teknaf to Saint Martin's Island.

She crossed the channel in four hours, 32 minutes and 51 seconds on Monday as she participated in a competition arranged by two organisations - Shawaroz Adventure and Extreme Bangla.

17 others also swam across the channel.

Mitu said she accepted the challenge to convey a message to the women folk of the society.

She thinks her achievement will motivate other girls in the country.

"I never swam in the open water before. But now I know hard work yields good results," said Mitu.

The competition, however, was arranged to pay tribute to the channel's discoverer late Hamidul Hoque.

A total of 28 competitors including two girls aged between 14 and 66 years started swimming from the Shah Porir jetty around 11:17am on Monday. Of them, 18 managed to cross the channel successfully.

DU student Saiful Islam, 22, topped in the competition and made a new record by crossing the channel in three hours and eight minutes. 

The earlier record was set by Indian swimmer Ritu Kedia in 2016. She crossed the channel in three hours and 40 minutes.

Akhtaruzzaman Khan Kabir, the chairman of Bangladesh Parjatan Corporation, attended the opening ceremony of the competition.