How 21 DU students battled desperately for survival in Sunamganj floods

"We all have some stories to tell. From a random tour to a survival thriller."

Usama Rafid, a third year student of Mass Communication and Journalism of Dhaka University wrote on his timeline on 16 June.

He was among the 21 DU students rescued by the Bangladesh Army after they were stranded in the Sunamganj flood.

They had left Dhaka for Sunamganj on Tuesday night.

On Wednesday morning, they left for Tahirpur upazila, which is surrounded by haors.

The group spent the day visiting Tanguar Haor and Niladri Lake, staying overnight on a boat.

It was a picture-perfect trip, but things were about to take a turn for the worst.

On Thursday morning, they started toward Shimulbagan and Barekka Tila by boat. It was the last leg of their trip as they were supposed to board a bus from Sunamganj to Dhaka that night.

The group reaches Dhaka with the help of the Bangladesh Army. The photo was taken at the Dhaka University premises in the early hours of 20 June. Photo: Collected

Within 30 minutes of their journey, the skies opened and heavy rain started to fall.

"Our boat failed to proceed forward due to strong currents on the Jadukata river. Then we turned our boat and sailed towards Vishwambharpur."

As the rain continued unabated, growing in ferocity, their boat also ran out of fuel, forcing the students to disembark at the nearest land area.

A growing threat 

Once on land, the group saw that the roads were under waist-length water by then. After some time, they boarded four CNG-run auto rickshaws and headed towards Sunamganj.

Two of the autorickshaws stopped midway as water entered their engines.

Some of the students got behind the vehicles and began to push those. At the same time, the flood waters were rising, making the task a risky endeavour.

Mizan, one of the students in the group, recalled seeing a motorcycle go completely under water. It was a hint of the extent of the flood.

After several hours, they reached a place called Charpol in the evening. From Charpol, the group boarded a sand-laden trawler for Sunamganj.

At this time, many among the students thought they had braved the worst. They would prove to be entirely wrong.

Rafid said while they were boarding the trawler, there was still heavy rain accompanied by thunderstorms.

Many among the group also did not know how to swim.

The students at the beginning of their Tanguar Haor trip. Photo: Collected

As dark clouds took over the skies, the evening turned completely dark.

With no light and heavy rains, visibility was also at a minimum. The boatman could not get his bearings right and went in the wrong direction a number of times.

The normally half-an-hour journey had turned into three hours.

They finally reached Sunamganj around 10pm, breathing a collective sigh of relief. Their only thought at the time was boarding a bus to Dhaka.

But to their dismay they found that the roads which they saw only two days ago were gone.

The first 999

The entire district of Sunamganj was submerged and all forms of communication from Sunamganj were snapped.

Seeing no alternatives, they took refuge on the second floor of a restaurant called "Pansi" near the old bus stand in the city. All the rooms were booked. So some of them spent the night sitting on a chair. Those who were not so lucky had to stand the entire night.

Drenched, some of the students huddled together for warmth.

There was an acute shortage of food, water and washroom facilities in the establishment.

At midnight, they contacted their classmates and teachers in Dhaka. The next morning, the deputy commissioner of Sunamganj rescued them with the help of the Rapid Action Battalion and brought them to the local police lines.

There, they were served dinner with khichuri and eggs. They spent the night in two rooms of the medical wing of the police lines.

The next morning, police boarded them on a launch with 100 others. The plan was to take them to Sylhet from where they would board a Dhaka bound bus.

However, the launch carried more than double the capacity. Another nightmare was about to begin.

A 'Titanic' in the making

Tahseen Nower Prachi, another student, was talking to her father over the phone. It was Father's Day.

"Six hours after the start of the journey, at about eight o'clock in the night, our launch was tilted by a strong push," she said.

"A voice screamed in pitch darkness: 'No one move, everyone come in the middle, make a line.'

"I became completely silent. My body was trembling. We always count the number of deaths in the news of launch capsize. All I could think about in the midst of these rugged waters was, would my life and the lives of my friends end in such numbers?," she recalled.

"I never saw my father in tears. But that night he was crying. His daughter was in the middle of a river trying to escape death," Prachi said.

At the same time, the mobile network also went and all communication was lost with Dhaka.

"We thought our launch was sinking. At the time, I could not feel a thing. I just went to a cabin and closed my eyes - thinking this would be my final slumber," Israt Jahan Eva, another one of the group, said.

The students contacted the army headquarters and called the emergency response number 999 before the communications were snapped - but in vain.

The rescuers replied saying a rescue operation at night amid the strong currents was mission impossible.

They advised the students to hold on till morning.

As the time progressed, the launch was slowly tilting to one side while the other side was stuck at the dam. 

"This felt like a Titanic situation. We were seeing our launch slowly go under the water," Mizan told The Business Standard.

At one stage, the launch crew and a few passengers got in the water and freed the launch with bamboo after trying for half an hour.

Then the launch was up and running again and there was a sigh of relief among the passengers.

Land at last

After reaching Chhatak of Sunamganj, the group disembarked and waited for army boats to rescue them.

Help finally came after 1.5-2 hours in the form of five speed boats. The army took them to Gobindoganj camp first and then to another army base.

They were fed and given first aid. Then the group was taken to Sylhet Osmani International Airport where they met Chief of Army Staff General SM Shafiuddin Ahmed.

The students boarded an army bus from there and reached the Dhaka University campus at around 12:30 pm on 20 June, bringing their ordeal to a close.

Reunion was in the air of TSC where these students met, hugged and laughed with their friends and family after five gruelling days.

A randomly planned tour had indeed turned into a battle for survival.

"I think this tour is a turning point in my life. I've seen a lot of things up close. Such as death, friendship, love, and the ability to endure.

We were together in the midst of so much danger, we were helping each other," said Maria Hasiba.

"The most beautiful thing about the last few days is our unity. We never left each other's hands for a single moment during this time. This is why we survived," she added.