Three children drown while tending to buffaloes

In a tragic turn of events, three children lost their lives due to drowning while engaged in the task of bathing buffaloes in a drain along Bedian Road.

The victims, identified as Abu Bakar, 12, Ali Haider, 10 and Rauful Hassan, 9 had taken the cattle to Rohi Drain Soara Village for their regular routine. As they were engrossed in their chores, one of the buffaloes strayed ahead. The children, in their attempt to retrieve it, ventured further.

The severity of the incident was compounded by the recent heavy rainfall, which had resulted in elevated water levels in the drain over the past few weeks. Unfortunately, the swift currents proved fatal for the unsuspecting children, leading to their tragic drowning.

Local residents promptly alerted Rescue teams, who arrived on the scene to assist. Divers were deployed to the location upon receiving the information. They successfully recovered the bodies and, after completing necessary legal procedures, handed them over to the grieving family members for proper burial.

In another distressing incident along Bedian Road, specifically at Bedian Road Keer ka stop, the body of an elderly man was retrieved from a canal. The victim had reportedly drowned. These events highlight a string of recent cases involving drowning in the provincial capital.

Just days prior, on August 5, the lifeless body of a woman was discovered floating in Rohai Drain near Gujjumatta. Similarly, a teenage boy's body was recovered from the waters of River Ravi near Shera Kot not long ago. Another incident involved the recovery of a man's body from River Ravi near Bara Dari last month.

The grim toll continued into July when two teenage boys tragically lost their lives due to drowning in rainwater ponding, all within the span of a single day. Shockingly, data reveals that in the first seven months of this year, a staggering 687 drowning emergencies were reported, resulting in the loss of 495 lives. Of these cases, 381 were reported in canals, followed by 126 incidents in rivers, and 56 in sewage drains.

These heartrending incidents underscore the importance of heightened safety awareness, especially during the rainy season.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 9^th, 2023.