Navy’s help sought in recovering bodies from Tarbela Lake

Family of victims calls for continuing the search until the last body is found

HARIPUR: With rescue workers and army divers making little headway in finding bodies of some 20 people who went missing after a boat capsized in the Tarbela Lake last week, the Haripur district administration has decided to seek help from the navy.

Haripur Deputy Commissioner Arifullah Awan has written to the Pakistan Navy to help the district administration in its rescue mission as divers of the Rescue 1122 and the army has been unable to pull out any bodies from the lake over the past five days.

With the search operation yielding few results, relatives and heirs of the victims staged a protest in the TMA Chaman Park.

They chanted slogans against the district government and demanded that the government continue its operation until the last body is recovered from the lake.

Search for bodies continues in Tarbela boat tragedy

They further demanded that the government utilise royalties obtained from the dam to build a road over the lake so that they do not have to undertake a hazardous journey down the river.

The relatives further urged the district administration and Rescue 1122 personnel to do whatever they can to raise the sunken boat to at least recover any bodies which may be stuck underneath.

Around 40 people and some livestock were on board a boat which was travelling from Torghar to Haripur down the Tarbela Lake. Near the village of Barg, the boat suddenly struck a whirlpool owing to stormy winds and raging waters and capsized.

Some 15 people either swam ashore or were rescued while bodies of four children were recovered from the water. However, the remaining passengers are missing.

The bodies were traced to their homes in Shangla and were handed over to their families for burial.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 10^th, 2019.