Chittagong University of Engineering and Technology (CUET) has declared all campus ponds and ditches hazardous and banned students from bathing or swimming in them following the drowning of three students.
The directive was issued in a notice signed by Professor Saiful Islam, director of the Directorate of Students’ Welfare, on Thursday.
The notice said all campus ponds had been declared hazardous in the interest of students’ safety. Until further notice, entering, swimming or otherwise going into any campus pond is strictly prohibited.
Violators will be considered to have breached university discipline and face disciplinary action under the university’s rules, the notice said.
CUET currently has two ponds and several ditches on its campus. The decision came after three students drowned in one of the ponds in recent weeks.
On Wednesday, second-year students Chomok Dutta of the Computer Science and Engineering Department and Shanto Deb of the Electrical and Electronic Engineering Department drowned while bathing in the pond.
Earlier, on July 28, fourth-year Mechanical Engineering student Arnab Saha drowned in the same pond.
According to CUET sources, Shanto and Arnab had entered the pond beside Kazi Nazrul Islam Hall to bathe with friends. They were submerged at one point and later rescued and taken to hospital, where doctors declared them dead.
The latest deaths occurred just two weeks after Arnab’s drowning, leaving the university community in mourning once again.
