Dhaka: As part of her initiative to raise awareness about 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.

It took her 4.45 hours to reach Saint Martin swimming across the channel amid strong current, Associated Press’ (AP’s) Bangladesh Bureau Chief Julhas Alam said.

‘I talked to Imran Hossain, a team member of Everest Foundation, who provided technical support to Becky during her venture. He confirmed me that Becky crossed the channel successfully taking four hours and forty-five minutes,’ he added.

Becky, 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 in 1958.

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 Centre for Injury Prevention and Research, Bangladesh (CIPRB) which has long been working here to help keep children safe around water.

Becky also said she will work for making Bangla Channel popular in the UK as people there now know very little about it.