Two children have been missing since this (July 2) morning as they were trying to enter Bangladesh from India illegally with their parents by swimming across the Neelkomol River to cross Fulbari border in Kurigram.

They are Parvin Khatun (8) and Shakibul Hasan (4), reports our Lalmonirhat correspondent quoting their parents Rahim Uddin (38) and Samina Khatun (33).

Talking to The Daily Star, Rahim said he went to India's Delhi in 2002 to work at a brickfield. Later in 2005 he married Samina, daughter of Sazedul Haque of Dinhata area of Cooch Behar district in India's West Bengal, and became an Indian citizen. However, he remained in touch with his mother who stays in Bangladesh.

"My children never saw their grandmother, so this time we decided to come to Bangladesh to spend Eid here with my mother. We paid Tk 30,000 to middlemen to help us cross the border safely," he said.

"As instructed, we were waiting on Neelkomol River bank on the Indian side when the middlemen told us to jump in the river as Indian Border Security Force (BSF) personnel from Seuti-1 camp in Cooch Behar were on the patrol," said Sazedul.

"We did as we were told to. I was carrying our belongings while my wife was holding the children. However, due to the strong current in the river, she could not hold them for long. Samina and I managed to swim across the river, but our children did not," he continued.

"We have since then been looking for them in the river, but to no avail. My wife and mother have been crying for the whole day with grief," Sazedul also said.

"Four of the middlemen also jumped into the river with us, but they have also been traceless since then," he said.

"Only Almighty Allah knows what happened to my children," said the father of the two children with teary eyes.

When contacted, Kabir Hossain, commander of Kashipur Company Camp of Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB), said they could not confirm the matter.

The commander also said they contacted BSF as well but they also could not provide any information in this regard.

"Neelkomol River flows along the border, with India on one side and Bangladesh on the other," the official also said.

BGB is looking into the matter, he added.