Toddler drowns in canal

Rescue 1122 teams retrieved the body after hectic efforts

LAHORE:

The body of a three-year-old boy, who had fallen into a canal on Tuesday in a nearby village, was fished out of the river by Rescue 1122 teams on Wednesday.

Ali Raza, son of Abdul Shakoor, a resident of Thatta Noor, a suburban village, fell into the river near his house on Tuesday evening while playing outside his house.

Rescue 1122 teams had begun their search for the body on the day of the incident, but they had to call it off after sunset due to darkness.

They resumed their search on Wednesday and managed to fish the body of the boy out of the river.

It was a hectic effort spanning over two days on part of the rescuers.

A large number of the villagers had also joined the rescue operation. In January this year, an eight-year-old schoolboy fell into an open manhole in Tallianwala.

The boy, Sadaqat Ali, had been on his way home from his school when the tragedy struck. Dozens of relatives of the deceased protested by setting fire to tires on the main road after the rescue operation was stopped after a few hours without the boy’s body having been recovered.

Police arrived on the spot and negotiated with the protesters. The body was ultimately found at the WASA’s disposal point at night. Police handed over the body to his heirs after autopsy.

Babar Nadeem’s eight-year-old son Sadaqat Ali, a resident of Siddique Akbar Chowk, Talianwala Road, had been on his way home from school when he fell into a manhole near the Suraya Majeed Hospital in Razaabad.

Five vehicles of Rescue 1122, including an ambulance, arrived on the spot to search for the child. When the child was not found during the search operation, the rescue team stopped the operation.

Babar Nadeem, the father of the boy, demanded of Rescue 1122 to continue the search operation until the fate of the boy was ascertained.

To press for the acceptance of his demands, Babar Nadeem, along with dozens of his family members and residents, staged a protest demonstration and blocked the main road for traffic.

Police arrived on the scene, negotiated with the deceased’s father and neighbors and reassured them of full cooperation.

Upon the reassurance the protest was stopped. On the other hand, WASA officials could not reach the spot despite receiving information due to which the emotions of the people of the area flared up.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 10^th, 2022.