Members of Bangladesh Army rescued the 21 Dhaka University (DU) students who were stranded in the Surma River since Saturday evening.
Lt Col Abdullah Ibn Jayed, director of the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Directorate, confirmed it.
He told that they had been taken to Chhatak upazila town after being rescued.
The students went on a pleasure trip to Sunamganj but were stranded due to flash floods triggered by the torrential rains and the onrush of water from upstream. They took shelter at a restaurant in the district town on Thursday.
Later, the local administration took them to the district police lines. Under the arrangements of police, they along with another 100 stranded people were sent to Sylhet on a launch on Saturday noon.
The miseries could have ended here, but another mishap was awaiting them. Their boat went out of order after being stuck in a shallow water shoal near the Dowarabazar upazila in Sunamganj, leaving them trapped at the middle of the Surma River for around six hours.
An army team attempted to rescue them but failed due to incessant downpour and heavy current in water. However, the launch master somehow managed to steer the vessel out of the shoal and took it to Dowarabazar bank around 2:00 am. But he failed to anchor there due to hostile weather and took the launch to Chhatak.
As per instructions of the army, the launch went to Sylhet after dropping the students on the bank. Later, three rescue boats of the army brought them to Chhatak upazila town around 7:00 am on Sunday.
Showaib Ahmed, one of the stranded students, wrote on Facebook that they are sound and safe and heading towards Sylhet by road with the help of the army.
