The rise in the number of drowning incidents at one of the country’s major tourist hotspot, the Cox’s Bazar sea beach, have raised many questions regarding the safety and the measures taken by the authorities concerned.
With many tourists being swept away by the sea’s rattling tides, the beach continues to claim lives of visitors who flock in hundreds to enjoy the seashore beauty each year.
According to Mostafa Kamal, the in-charge of Yasir Life Guard a private agency that conducts rescue operations at the beach, divers alone have recovered 135 dead bodies and have saved 1,125 lives from drowning in the past 17 years.
Yasir Life Guard, an initiative of Duncan Company, was launched in 1996 in memory of Minhaj Uddin Yasir who met his tragic end while swimming at the beach. The agency has been rescuing people from the turbulent sea water ever since.
Yasir, the son of Duncan’s senior executive Shahabuddin, fell into a pool of quicksand while taking a bath along with his family members back in 1985.
However, the life guard agency is now beset with a multitude of problems mainly due to lack of necessary government support, according to Mostafa.
He said: “Two years back, the agency had 15 employees who had been fondly called by the locals as ‘Laal Bahini’ for their unwavering courage and act of bravery. But today, the members of ‘Laal Bahini’ had dropped from 15 to five as the employees quit their jobs because of insufficient salaries.”
“Given the current scenario, it is getting difficult for the divers to keep a vigilant eye over the beach with only the help of a single speedboat, whose engine remains dysfunctional most of the time,” he added.
Mostofa said currently, members of Yasir Life Guard were continuing their life-saving missions from a small structure located at the northern side of Laboni Point and controlled a five-kilometre stretch of the coastline from Diabetic Point to Kolatoli Sea-crown.
Following their footsteps, two more agencies Robi Life Guard and Green World had also joined the mission of saving lives and were now working day and night to ensure the safety and security of the tourists, the in-charge added.
Mostafa emphasised that the government should start taking initiatives to set up similar life guard facilities at other points of the beach, so that many more lives could be saved. He said alongside the familiar sea points, many tourists had reportedly been washed ashore at Saint Martin, Shah Parir Dwip and Teknaaf Bahar Chora.
Talking to the Dhaka Tribune, Cox’s Bazar Deputy Commissioner Md Ruhul Amin, also president of Cox’s Bazar Beach Management Committee, said they had thought of setting up a sea-netting system. “We would at least be able to bring Laboni Point under the purview of sea-netting given that the government provides us with necessary allocation,” he added.