The body of Faria Tasnim Jyoti was recovered 36 hours after she went missing upon falling into an uncovered draiin Tongi, Gazipur. Fire service officials recovered her body from a waterbody in the Bastuhara (Shalikchura) area around 9am on Tuesday.
Jyoti, a resident of Sector 10 in Dhaka’s Mirpur, worked as a sales representative for the pharmaceutical importing company Moni Trading. Her ancestral home is in Chuadanga district.
According to family members and local sources, the incident occurred around 9:15pm on Sunday near the Imperial Hospital area of Tongi’s Hossain Market, where Jyoti had gone for work. While near the hospital, she accidentally fell into an uncovered manhole.
Locals failed to rescue her and informed the fire service. A fire service unit then carried out the rescue operation until 1:30am that night, but had to suspend operations shortly after due to bad weather. The search resumed at 8:30am on Monday, with support from the city corporation and police.
Rescue teams removed manhole covers along the Dhaka-Mymensingh Highway — from Hossain Market to Gazipura — in search of the missing woman. Later, divers also conducted a search in nearby canals and wetlands, but the effort was again suspended that evening.
On Tuesday morning, the fire service resumed its operation. Eventually, they recovered Jyoti’s body from beneath water hyacinths in a wetland in the Bastuhara (Shalikchura) area.
Shahin Alam, senior station officer of Tongi Fire Service, said a 20-member rescue team was deployed after the incident. “After 36 hours, we recovered the body of the missing woman from a waterbody near the manhole she had fallen into,” he said.
Gazipur City Corporation has formed a four-member investigation committee to probe the incident. The city corporation secretary will head the committee, which includes representatives from the fire service and other relevant agencies. The committee has been asked to submit its report within seven working days.