As part of her initiative to raise awareness of drowning in Bangladesh, British journalist Becky Horsbrugh on Sunday crossed the 16-kilometre Bangla Channel from Teknaf to the Saint Martin's Island in the Bay of Bengal, reports UNB.
It took her 4 hours and 45 minutes to reach Saint Martin swimming across the channel amid strong current, confirms Associated Press' (AP) Bangladesh Bureau Chief Julhas Alam.
Also Read - British journalist to swim Bangla Channel to raise awareness on drowning
"I talked to Imran Hossain, a team member of Everest Foundation, who provided technical support to Horsbrugh during her venture. He confirmed me that Horsbrugh crossed the channel successfully taking four hours and forty-five minutes," he added.
Horsbrugh, AP's Asia Producer, is the first British citizen to cross the Bangla Channel when Bangladeshi swimmer Brojen Das swam the English Channel as the first Asian in 1958.
[caption id="attachment_243272" align="aligncenter" width="800"]
From left, Becky Horsbrugh, Associated Press's Asia producer, swimmer Washiur Rahman, centre, and Musa Ibrahim, the first Bangladeshi to scale Mt Everest, pose for a photograph after completing swimming the so-called Bangla Channel, from Teknaf to St Martin's island
Dhaka Tribune[/caption]
Earlier at a press conference in the city on Thursday, she said she was going to swim the channel to raise awareness of the huge issue of drowning in Bangladesh as around 50 children die a day from drowning here while it is only 15 in a year in the UK.
Her brave adventure was also meant for raising funds for the Centre for Injury Prevention and Research, Bangladesh, which has long been working here to help keep children safe around water.
Horsbrugh also said she would work for making the Bangla Channel popular in the UK as people there now know very little about it.
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