Two brothers drowned while bathing in the Atrai River at Kalirbazar Ghat in Khansama upazila of Dinajpur on Wednesday morning. The victims were Manna Islam, aged 45, and Saddam Hossain, aged 32, both sons of the late Siraj Uddin from Mirpur-11 in Dhaka. The incident occurred around 11 a.m. when the brothers, along with family members, stopped to bathe in the river while returning from a visit to a lychee orchard in the Joar area.

According to family and local sources, Saddam Hossain had recently come to visit his in-laws in Champatali village of Chirirbandar upazila. During the bath, Manna Islam’s two sons managed to reach the shore safely, but the two brothers went missing. Local residents began rescue efforts and informed the fire service. The Khansama Fire Service team recovered Manna Islam’s body at 2:15 p.m., and a diver team from Rangpur later recovered Saddam Hossain’s body at 3:35 p.m.

Locals claimed that sand extraction by dredgers had created deep pits in the riverbed, which may have caused the drowning. Police confirmed that legal procedures are underway following the recovery of the bodies.