COX’S BAZAR. Oct 9: For new bride • Shirin Akhter Dilruba it was a honeymoon in hell. Married only nine days ago. Dtlruba's hands were still hennaed when cruel fate ren dered her a widow.

Her husband. Mohammad Shahabuddin Chowdhury, drowned in the Bay of Bengal here near Laboni point this morning when the couple went to the beach for an early morning swim today.

The tragedy happened at around 7:30 am when Shahabuddin. who had waded some distance into the water during low tide, was suddenly swept off his feet and tern porarily disappeared under the waves.

Shahabuddin. a doctor

posted at the Chandanaish thana health complex, was pulled out of the water after almost an hour by three shell picking girls who happened to be in the vicinity. He was rushed to the Sadar Hospital, only a kilometre away, but doctors there pronounced him dead.

Dilruba. 25. who obtained her masters degree In Chemistry from the Chittagong University this year, was still in a state of severe shock and unconscious even well after*' the namaz-e-Janaza after Zohr prayers.

The couple got married on September 30 and came to Cox's Bazar on a honeymoon Friday last. They were staying at Hotel.

Shahabuddin. 35. hailed from Sholaghat village of Bher-amara thana under Kushtia district.

The body of the doctor was taken to Chittagong by his relatives In the evening after autopsy. Shahabuddin's father Shujauddin Chowdhury, a railway officer'martyred in 1971. had settled in Chittagong.

Each year, one or two tourists die during low tide in the Bay Despite repeated requests from the local people to Install a net around the beach as a security measure and appoint official lifeguards the concerned authorities are yet to take any action.

Locals familiar with the hazards to swimmers told this correspondent that most deaths occur when people wade too far out and are often pulled towards the sea by the ebb and they fail to find a foothold In the quicksand pits that dot the coastline.