Twelve men and children lost their lives as a boat ferrying a wedding party capsized in Nara canal in Choondiko area of Khairpur district on Monday. The police said the local people rescued five of the drowned persons while bodies of seven deceased persons could not be recovered by sunset.
According to the Choondiko police, the boat was overloaded with people. Around Sindh mostly the fishing boats are used to ferry the people through the Indus River and its canals as well as in the lakes.
The deceased were heading to village Jamaluddin Pattan to attend the wedding ceremony. They were residents of village Chabbar.
The deceased have been identified as 45 years old Raja Shar, 45 years old Saleh Shar, 40 years old Raja Muhammad, 47 years old Misri Khan, seven years old Baksh Ali Shar, Jummo Shar and Salik Shar, among others. The Shar community blamed the district administration for failing to help them in the rescue operation and in retrieving the dead bodies.
Elahi Bux Shar, a survivor, told the local media that the boat overturned in the center of the canal where the water level was too high. He believed that overloading or sudden gusts might be the reason.
The governor Sindh Kamran Tissouri took notice of the incident and directed the local administration to lead the rescue operation. Pakistan Peoples Party's chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari and co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari expressed sadness over the loss of innocent lives.
Published in The Express Tribune, October 31st, 2023.
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