On 23 August, river police recovered the bodies of a woman, a child, a young man and a young woman from the Buriganga River in Dhaka within a span of just six hours. Black cloth was wrapped around the woman’s neck, while the child’s body was wrapped in a scarf. The young man and woman had their hands tied together, and both bore visible injuries. Police suspect they were murdered and their bodies dumped in the river to conceal the crimes. As their identities could not be established, all four bodies were buried as unidentified persons 11 days later.
Earlier, on 30 April last year, police recovered the body of an unidentified woman from a river in Narayanganj. A scarf had been wrapped around a bamboo pole beside the body, and the woman was found naked. She was initially buried as an unidentified person in the area, but her relatives later recognized her after viewing photographs kept at the police station. The subsequent investigation revealed that she had been murdered, and a suspect arrested in connection with the case later gave a confessional statement in court.
Data from the river police reveals a grim reality across Bangladesh's waterways. Authorities recovered 2,064 bodies from rivers nationwide between January 2021 and December 2025, a span of five years. An additional 430 bodies were recovered between January and September of this year, bringing the total to 2,494 bodies recovered over five years and nine months.
These recovered bodies encompass a tragic range of incidents, including victims of calculated homicides, individuals who accidentally fell into rivers and drowned, and those who died by suicide by jumping into the water. River police officials note that identifying victims and bringing perpetrators to justice remains an immense challenge when the currents wash away vital forensic evidence.
