Dhaka, April 20 -- "Open and unprotected" canals and drains in Chattogram have claimed at least 13 lives in the past nine years, with some victims' bodies never found.

The most recent death of a child has once again raised the question: when will the city's waterlogging-prone canals become safe?

Both city residents and experts believe these deaths could have been prevented if the promised safety barriers, pledged four years ago, had been properly implemented.

There are renewed demands to install protective barriers around the hazardous canals and drains that have become a cause of repeated death and injury.

As recently as Friday night, a 7-month-old baby went missing after a rickshaw carrying her and her family toppled into an open ro...