A six-year-old child was found dead in a water-filled pit in Kurigram Sadar upazila on Monday evening, around eight hours after going missing.

The child’s body was recovered at about 8pm from a village in Bhogdanga Union, according to Kamal Hossain, officer-in-charge of Kurigram Sadar Police Station.

Police said the child went missing at around noon. After family members and relatives were unable to locate the child despite searching nearby areas, they began looking more widely and used loudspeakers to alert people in the locality.

The search continued for several hours. At one stage in the evening, the child’s body was spotted floating in water inside a pit beside a tube well at a neighbour’s house. Residents subsequently informed the authorities, and police went to the scene to recover the body.

The circumstances surrounding the child’s death have not yet been established. The discovery has also led to speculation among local residents about how the child ended up in the pit. Police, however, have not confirmed any such claims and said the cause of death would be determined through the investigation.

Kamal Hossain said police had been sent to the scene and that the incident was being investigated. He added that legal action would be taken if the investigation found evidence of foul play or established the involvement of any individual.

As of Monday night, no written complaint had been submitted to the police in connection with the death, the officer said.

The case has raised questions about the circumstances of the child’s disappearance and the events leading to the recovery of the body. Investigators are expected to examine the location, gather information from family members and local residents, and establish how the child reached the water-filled pit.

Until the investigation establishes the facts, the exact circumstances and cause of the child’s death remain unclear.