Childhood Friends Laid to Rest Side-by-Side After Dying Together
Two lifelong friends in Rangpur, who grew up together on the same dust-strewn paths, shared a tragic final journey on Friday when they drowned while swimming in the Jamuneshwari River. The incident, which occurred in the Kashiyabari area of Taraganj upazila, cast a pall of grief over the local community just as the festive atmosphere of Eid was beginning to fade.
The victims, 16-year-old Ohid Islam and Masud Rana, were inseparable companions from Telipara village. Both teenagers had moved to Dhaka to work as construction laborers to support their families, returning to their ancestral village only days prior to celebrate the Eid-ul-Fitr holiday. Neither youth knew how to swim, a deficiency that proved fatal when they entered the river with a group of friends on Friday morning.
Witnesses and local officials stated that the two friends went underwater while bathing in the river, approximately three kilometers from their homes. Ohid died at the scene, while bystanders managed to pull Masud from the water and rush him to the Taraganj Upazila Health Complex, where attending physicians declared him dead upon arrival.
Taraganj Police Station Officer-in-Charge Ruhul Amin confirmed that the bodies were released to their respective families following formal inquests. Local Union Parishad member Mojumdar Ali noted that both boys came from impoverished backgrounds and had been working in the capital to help provide for their parents, describing their untimely deaths as a profound tragedy for the village.
By Friday evening, the mourning community gathered at the Khiardanga graveyard to pay their final respects. In a poignant conclusion to their bond, the two friends were laid to rest in side-by-side graves. A neighbor, Anwar Hossain, reflected on the heartbreak shared by the village, noting that the two who had shared every step of their youth had ultimately remained together in life, death, and final interment.
