Thirty-one swimmers including one woman are crossing the Bangla Channel from Shahpari Island in Teknaf, Cox's Bazar.
The swimmers will reach Saint Martin by crossing the channel, a distance of 16.1kms.
The swim started from Paschimpara sea beach of Shahpari Island in Teknaf's Sabrang union at 9:05am on Thursday.
This swim was organized by “Saroj Adventure” and “Extreme Bangla”.
Lipton Sarkar, who had so far crossed the channel 18 times, is chief coordinator of the swimming.
The swimmers this time are – Lipton Sarkar, Md Moniruzzaman, Mohammad Sahmsuzzaman Arafat, Sheikh Mahbubur Rahman, Saiful Islam Russel, Abul Kalam Azad, Masud Rana, Ali Rawnak Islam, Abdul Islam, Md Zihad Hossain, Salah Uddin, Md Kamal Hossain, Md Sohel Rana, Showvik Barua, Ujjal Chowdhury, Md Saqib Mahmud Naeem Khan, Md Badr Uddin, Md Farooq Hossain, SM Shariar Mahmud, Md Abu Rashed, Md Gholam Rabbani, Abdullah Al Sabit, Shoaib Talukder, SK Raihan Arafat Akash, Regina Parveen, Md Tarek Hasan, Abdullah Al Tausif, Md Jamil Hossain, Md Nasir Uddin, Rashedul Islam and Rabbi Rahman.
Lipton Sarkar said, this swimming is being conducted according to international standards. Long distance swimming is popular in Bangladesh as swimmers participate every time.
Late Kazi Hamidul Haque discovered the 16.1kms Bangla Channel suitable for long-distance swimming in the Bay of Bengal. The Bangla Channel swim was held for the first time in 2006. That time Lipton Sarkar, Fazlul Kabir Sina and Salman Saeed participated in the swim.
