The body of a 55-year-old farmer, Saiful Islam, who went missing after being swept away by the strong current of the Brahmaputra River in Ishwarganj, Mymensingh, was recovered three days later from Gafargaon upazila.

His body was found trapped in a dredging machine’s pipe in the Hosenpur area of Gafargaon on Friday morning, about 30 kilometres downstream from where he went missing. His relatives later identified the body.

Saiful Islam was the son of the late Idris Ali and a resident of Moricharchar Tanmlamari village in Uchakhila Union of Ishwarganj upazila.

According to local sources, Saiful entered the river at around 2:30pm on Wednesday (August 5) near Bottola Sand Ghat in Uchakhila Union to retrieve the deck of a boat that had been swept away by the strong current.

While attempting to grab the boat’s deck, he was pulled underwater by the powerful current. Local residents searched various parts of the river by boat but could not locate him.

After receiving the news, a five-member diving team led by Fire Service leader Jalil arrived at the scene and began a rescue operation. After searching for nearly two hours without success, the operation was suspended on Wednesday evening.

On Thursday, the divers conducted another search from 8am until 3pm at different points along the Brahmaputra. Despite more than seven hours of searching, Saiful could not be found. Following discussions with the upazila administration and family members, the Fire Service officially ended the rescue operation.

However, his relatives continued searching. On Friday morning, around 20 to 25 local residents and family members took a trawler onto the Brahmaputra and began searching downstream, following the direction of the river’s current.

At one point, they spotted a body trapped in a dredging machine’s pipe in the Hosenpur area near a bridge in Gafargaon. After approaching the site, the relatives identified the body as Saiful’s.

The body was then recovered and transported by trawler along the river to his family home.

Saiful’s death has cast a shadow of grief over his family. Relatives said his father, Idris Ali, had also drowned in a river many years ago. The family is now mourning the loss of two generations to the same river.

Ishwarganj Fire Service Station official Ram Prasad Pal said the diving team had made every possible effort for two days but failed to locate the missing man.

“We suspected that the strong current of the Brahmaputra had carried the body a considerable distance downstream,” he said. According to him, after the official search was called off, relatives were advised to continue monitoring the river by trawler and search downstream areas.

The body was eventually found nearly 30 kilometres from the location where Saiful disappeared.

After three days of anxiety, waiting and relentless searching, Saiful Islam finally returned home—but not alive. His family has found closure after the long wait, but the pain of losing a loved one will remain for years to come.