Funeral prayers for 13 boat accident victims offered in Malir

Relatives demand action against boat’s owners

KARACHI: People in Malir mourned on Friday the deaths of 13 people who were among the 22 who drowned after an overloaded boat capsized in Thatta district on Thursday.

A large number of people belonging to various areas of Karachi attended the funeral prayers for 13 people held in Aachhar Salar Goth in Malir where five deceased belonged to one family. People shut their businesses to mourn the deaths of people who were going to attend annual urs celebrations of Meenhan Pathani, a shrine located on an island in Mirpur Sakro in Thatta district.

According to eyewitnesses, the incident occurred because boat was overcrowded with more than 100 passengers and it sank into Arabian Sea in Bohara Creek.

All bodies have been reportedly recovered except that of a five-year-old girl, Mehak Jokhio, who also belonged to the Malir area. "The rescue operation still continues but we have not been able to trace the body of the minor girl," said Edhi Foundation worker Sarfaraz Ahmed.



Speaking to the media, Maharuddin Salar, who lost his five-year-old son, said, "The boat had the capacity of 20 people but they loaded it with 100 people and it capsized".

Most of the people of Aachhar  Salar Goth who drowned in the tragedy were relatives. Among the deceased, Waziran, 35, wife of Abdul Hafeez Salar, Owais, five, son of Maharuddin Salar, Yasir, four, son of Yasin, Bilawal, 21, son of Rustam, and Maqsoom, 28, son of Ali Ahmed Jokhio, were from the same family.

Speaking to The Express Tribune, Jokhio said the people of village attended the urs celebrations at sea every year. "I have visited the shrine five times. Nothing bad happened," he said, adding that it was a manmade disaster and the government must take action against boat's owners so that such incidents never happened again.

Naseer Jokhio, a social activist working in the area, said the government must provide compensation to the victims' families, many of which lost their breadwinners.



Commenting on the demand for compensation, Pakistan Peoples Party MPA Murtaza Baloch said he would take up this issue with the chief minister. He also maintained that the government would take action against the boat's owners.