Mother of six jumps into river with daughter

Divers rescued the daughter but woman was swept away by strong currents

ABBOTTABAD: A mother of six, said to be depressed, committed suicide by jumping into the River Jhelum along with one of her daughters on Saturday, police and eyewitnesses said.

However, local divers managed to rescue the daughter but the woman was swept away by the strong currents.

Police and locals said that 39-year-old Safina, from Kaoo Sharqi village was married, to Khatib Abbasi from the village and the couple had six daughters.

Her husband was a daily wage earner in Rawalpindi and due to poor economic conditions, the family was facing hard times and often used to quarrel over minor issues.

Their family said that the woman often complained of her husband’s misbehaviour towards her, however, her parents always forced her to stay with her husband and daughters under any circumstance.

Fed up of the abject poverty and her husband’s intolerant  and negative attitude, the woman left  her home on Saturday with her seven-year-old daughter SK*. When they reached the Kohala Bridge, which connects Abbottabad and Azad Jammu and Kashmir, she jumped into the river.

“I thought she was showing something to her daughter but all of a sudden, she jumped off the bridge while tightly holding the arm of her daughter,” Shafique Abbasi, who is a trained diver and works at an eatery on the banks of the River Jhelum, told The Express Tribune.

He pointed out that due to the recent snowfall, the water in the river was not too fast. Noting this, Abbasi and some other divers jumped into the river after the mother and daughter. Abbasi said that he and the other divers managed to successfully rescue the girl, however, her mother disappeared under the heavy currents. The diver said that he and other rescue workers tried searching for the mother but could not find her.

The girl, though, was shifted to a local hospital where her condition was stated to be out of danger.

*NAMES WITh HELD TO PROTECT IDENTITY

Published in The Express Tribune, January 22^nd, 2017.