Overloading: the consequences: Five dead as boat capsizes in Sahiwal

Five people died, while eight are still missing, when a boat overturned in Lower Bari Doab near Harappa in Sahiwal.

MULTAN: Five people died, while eight were still missing, when a boat overturned in Lower Bari Doab near Harappa in Sahiwal district on Monday. According to the students travelling on the boat, there were close to 28 people onboard when the accident occurred. Most of the travellers were students of Government Technology College in Sahiwal. Out of the five bodies, two have been identified as those of brothers Zubair and Saleem from Chicha Watni. The rescue operation, which continued for 11 hours, was called off after sunset when the rescue team started facing visibility problems. Fifteen people were pulled out alive, out of which four were in a state of unconsciousness in Sahiwal’s district hospital.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 18^th, 2011.