No fewer than 769 people – 506 of whom were aged below 10 – lost their lives to 425 drowning incidents throughout 2020, reveals a new study.
River vessel accidents caused the deaths of 116 people while floodwater led to 17 fatalities.
In association with Global Health Advocacy Incubator (GHAI), mass media and communications-related organization Society for Media and Suitable Human-communication Techniques (SoMaSHTe) unveiled the figure which was prepared based on local media outlets and online portals.
According to the study, 99 of the dead were from the 10-14 age group, 28 from the 15-18 age group, and 136 victims were aged above 18.
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The gender-wise distribution shows that 294 of the victims were females, with 264 being girl children.
Among the 469 male deceased, 363 were boys while the genders of six victims could not be ascertained.
Dhaka division saw the maximum of 184 deaths, followed by 145 fatalities in Chittagong, 113 in Rangpur, 100 in Rajshahi, 88 in Mymensingh, 51 in Barisal, 47 in Khulna, and 41 in Sylhet.
Netrakona as a district witnessed the highest 48 deaths followed by Dhaka, Noakhali, Dinajpur, Gazipur and Kurigram registering 43, 31, 30, 27, and 25 casualties respectively.
However, no deaths were reported in Bandarban, Shariatpur, Khulna, and Narail.
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Most of the deaths (312) took place between dawn and noon, 309 between noon and dusk, 121 in the evening and 16 at night. The time of 11 fatalities could not be confirmed.
August was the most fatal month as 166 people drowned then, followed by 134 in July while the figure was the lowest in February when just 10 people died from drowning.
The lack of proper monitoring by family members is the major reason for most drownings as 622 died in ponds or water bodies near their homes, after going there by dodging their elder family members, the study points out.
