Three teenagers drowned in the River Jhelum.
Five closely-related boys hailing from the village of Bodanewala -- 13-year-old Raheel Yasir, 14-year-old Mursalin, 16-year-old Taimur, 15-year-old Adeel and 12-year-old Abdul Wahab -- had been bathing in the River Jhelum at Mari Shah Sakhira on the boundary of Jhang and Nurpur Thal when they got sucked into deep water.
Not being skilled swimmers, the boys could not steer themselves up to the surface of the river. It just proved too formidable a task for these uninitiated youngsters to get out of the predicament they had put themselves into.
Fortunately, there happened to be some people present there who saw the boys drowning. These good Samaritans put their own lives in danger and embarked on saving the drowning boys. However, their highly appreciable act could secure only partial success.
They did manage to rescue Raheel Yasir and Mursaleen, but the fate of Taimur, Adeel and Abdul Wahab had already been sealed.
Local divers and Rescue 1122 launched a hectic effort to find the bodies of those who had drowned. However, they had to call off the search operation as darkness fell.
Nevertheless, the search operation resumed first thing on Monday morning. Several hours later, the bodies of the three young boys were found in deep water.
An official of Rescue 1122, Mohammad Asif Awan, told The Express Tribune that during the hot weather, people go to the rivers and canals to cool themselves off.
However, boys in their early teens bite more than they can chew, and throwing caution to the wind, they slip into water without realizing that the depth of the water is too perilous for them to sail through it.
What they leave behind for their kin is a life-long agony, and all due to their carelessness. He said that due to parental negligence, even young boys who did not know how to swim try to bathe in rivers and canals.
In the month of April last year, a girl drowned in the River Ravi while washing animals.
Ten-year-olds Rubina and Rukhsana had taken buffaloes near Mari Patan Bridge on the River Ravi for washing them. In the meantime, they went into deep water and struggled to get back to safety. Seeing them drowning, passersby informed the rescue crew. The rescue divers arrived at the scene.
They managed to rescue Rubina alive and rushed her to the hospital. Later, Rukhsana’s body was found after several hours of search.
A news report published last year quoting official figures said that two lives were lost daily on an average in cases of drowning across the province.
Due to negligence of the citizens, the authorities, or both, at least 500 people lost their lives due to drowning throughout Punjab in as many as 883 incidents reported in 2021, the data available with The Express Tribune had shown.
Over four drowning emergencies were reported in the province daily during the period.
The data showed at least one incident of drowning took place every week in every third district of Punjab. Over 30 cases of drowning took place in 12 of the 36 districts of the province by July 25, 2021.
Published in The Express Tribune, July 4th, 2023.
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