Bodies of 5 Bangladeshi footballers drowned in river recovered

The bodies of five teenage Bangladeshi footballers who drowned in a river on Saturday evening were recovered early on Sunday.

Bakhtiar Uddin Chowdhury, officer-in-charge of Chakaria Police Station, said the bodies were retrieved by a team of Divers of Fire Service and Civil Defence.

The victims were students of local Grammar School in Cox's Bazar district, some 292 km southeast of capital Dhaka, Xinhua reported.

According to the official, six boys went swimming in the Matamuhuri river at around 4:00 p.m. local time on Saturday after they played a friendly match.

But strong current in the river washed them away, said the official. Only one of them managed to swim ashore.

He said the death of the teenagers have stunned and cast a great darkness over the whole district. People rushed to victims' homes in villages of the sub-district to mourn the deaths.

Their funeral held on Sunday saw tens of thousands turn up in attendance wearing black badges. - IANS