Youth drowns trying to swim across Lyari River to win a bet

Another death incident reported, due to the negligence of the boy himself

KARACHI:

A youth died trying to win a bet to swim across the Lyari River at Sohrab Goth on Monday.

Mumtaz Khan, the devastated father of 25-year-old Amir Khan told the police and the media people that his son’s friends had dared him that if he was such a good swimmer, prove it by crossing the Lyari River.

The seasonal river is running in full flood these days due to rainfall in the catchment areas. However, young Amir dived in as his friends made videos on mobile phones. Amir was half way, when strong currents swallowed him.

Meanwhile, police responding to distress calls on helpline 15 reached the spot and called the rescue agencies to launch an operation to search for the missing youth.

FB Industrial Area police station SHO Sarfraz Ahmed told The Express Tribune that Amir’s body was recovered on Monday night and handed over to grieving family after legal proceedings.

The missing boy’s father told police that his son had made a bet with his friends to swim from one side of the Lyari River to the other, but as he jumped into the stream he could only make it to the middle of it and drowned in the flow of water before reaching to the other side.

Meanwhile, a 14 year old girl, Sakina Ali Murad, was playing with her friends along a pond created by the rain slipped into deep water. By the time people responded to the cries of the children, the child had drowned in the pond close to her home in Baldia Town.

Separately, Surjani Town police station SHO Sana Ullah said that six year old Ahmed Ali drowned in stranded rainwater near his home in Khuda ki Basti.

As per parents, the child was splashing in the water accumulated in a ditch close to home when he fell in and drowned.

On the other side of the city, body of Bilal, 17, who had gone missing during Sunday’s torrential rain, was found from the nullah behind Ziauddin Hospital Clifton. The deceased was a resident of Gulshan-e-Sikandar.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 26^th, 2022.