Death toll from rain-related rises to 13

At least 13 people, including women and children, lost their lives in various rain-related incidents across Karachi on Tuesday and Wednesday as the city was battered by heavy downpours. The fatalities occurred in wall collapses, electrocution, and drowning incidents reported in different neighborhoods.

Two children drowned on Wednesday in the nullah near Al-Asif Square near Sohrab Goth and in the C-1 Area drain of Liaquatabad.

Edhi Maritime Services teams launched rescue operations at both sites but were forced to suspend efforts at nightfall. According to Edhi officials, the search for the missing children will resume Thursday morning.

Body of an unidentified 65-year-old man was recovered from a ditch filled with rainwater near New Sabzi Mandi on the Super Highway. The elderly person had apparently slipped into water in the dark.

Moreover, body of a 15-year-old boy was found in a water-filled depression near Northern Bypass, Gulshan-e-Maymar. Police are searching for his heirs.

Body of a man, who had drowned in an open drain near Guru Mandir on Tuesday night, was retrieved by the rescue volunteers on Wednesday. The body was shifted to the Civil Hospital where the deceased was identified as 50-year-old Muhammad Abbas, son of Muhammad Mohsin.

Abbas, his son and another man, were walking home during the heavy rain along the roadside in knee-deep water at around 10pm on Tuesday, when suddenly they fell into an uncovered drain. People nearby managed to pull two of them out immediately, but Abbas went missing.

Rescue teams continued the search and recovered the body late in the night. The deceased was a resident of Soldier Bazaar. Police completed legal formalities and handed over the body to the family.

Wall collapse

A private school's wall collapsed onto jhuggis in Gulistan-e-Jauhar Block 13, killing two women and two children on the spot and injuring several others. Later, a three-year-old girl succumbed to her injuries during treatment, raising the death toll in the incident to five. Among the victims were a mother and her two children.

According to Shahrea Faisal SHO Iftikhar Arain, the deceased included 25-year-old Kausar Afzal and her children three-year-old Hamza and four-year-old Maryam and 28-year-old Samina Mubeen. On Wednesday, the death toll rose to five after a critically injured three-year-old girl, Samira, succumbed to her injuries during treatment. In another incident, an eight-year-old boy, Abdullah, was killed when a house wall collapsed in Orangi Town's Sector 11½.

Electrocution

Cases of electrocution also claimed lives in multiple areas: a 24-year-old youth was electrocuted during Tuesday's rain in DHA phase VI. The victim remains unidentified, said Darakhshan police station SHO Shahid Taj.

Another 24-year-old man identified as Saad Ali suffered fatal electric shock near PAF Base Shahrrea Faisal. Separately, 65-year-old Muhammad Ishaq died of electric shock at his home in North Karachi. Additionally, 18-year-old Yasir died near the Defence Gizri Bridge where a live wire had fallen onto the road. Yasir, was walking along the road when the snapped wire lying under water gave him a fatal shock. He died on the spot. His body was shifted to Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Hospital. Police, after completing legal formalities, handed over the body to the family.