Two minor boys drown in village pond

Police, Rescue 1122 recover bodies with WASA help

JEHLUM:

Two minor boys drowned to death while bathing in a pond near Millat Road on Tuesday.

Police, Rescue 1122 and WASA officials along with villagers made collective efforts to drain the water from the pond using machines.

A large number of villagers were present on the spot after the incident of drowning of children in the pond surfaced. However, the police barred the locals from the scene so that no villager slips due to a mound of mud at the pond site.

Police handed over the bodies to the heirs after taking necessary action.

Reportedly, as many as 23 children and youth had drowned in the city’s canals in the past five and a half months.

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According to the police report, 10-year-old Armaan, a grade 5 student, the son of Khurram and a resident of Chak No117GB, Dhanola area, Millat Road, along with his friend 11-year-old Mutaib Rehman, a grade 4 student, the son of Muhammad Ishaq, went to bathe at a tube well in the village. After bathing there for a while, they went to bathe at a pond in the village.

The two minor boys jumped into the deep pond water and eventually drowned in the pond.

Seeing the minors drowning, a passerby made noise and the other villagers reached the scene. They pulled the bodies out of the pond.

A local had claimed that two or more children had drowned while bathing in the pool. However, after Rescue 1122, WASA teams and police teams, led by Millat Town SHO Sub Inspector Abid Hussain Jutt reached the spot and drained the pond’s water in an attempt to recover other possible victims, it was concluded that only the two minor boys had bathed and drowned to death in the pool.

A large number of villagers had gathered at the pond site during the rescue operation

During this time, the teams encountered difficulties in recovering the victims. Due to the large crowd gathered at the rescue site, the locals had to dispersed to prevent any more persons from drowning into the muddy pond. Reportedly, the rescue operation took three hours.

Millat Town police handed over the bodies of the deceased students to their heirs after taking necessary action.

Due to the tragic death of the minor boys, there was a lamentation after the two bodies reached the village.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 16^h, 2021.