The body of a 19-year-old tourist was recovered from Guliahali Beach in Sitakunda Upazila on Sunday morning, nearly 17 hours after he went missing while swimming with friends.
The deceased, Md. Rifatul Islam, was a Grade 10 student at Gouripur High School and the son of Khairul Islam from Daudkandi Upazila in Cumilla.
The tragedy occurred at around 4:30 PM on Saturday, when a group of six youth from Cumilla went out to bathe at the beach and were caught in strong currents. While local residents managed to rescue five of them from drowning, Rifat was swept out to sea.
The Sitakunda Fire Service launched an immediate rescue mission on Saturday evening, halting briefly overnight before expanding operations at dawn on Sunday. At around 9:00 AM, a local resident named Lucky Ahmed Khan spotted Rifat's body trapped against an oak tree at the mouth of a canal near the beach.
A joint team comprising the Kumira Fire Service, Coast Guard, Navy, and local police quickly retrieved the body. Navy Officer Md. Abdullah and Sitakunda Fire Service Station In-charge Mohammad Belal Hossain confirmed the recovery, stating that the body has been handed over to the police for necessary legal formalities.
