Open drains: Child injured trying to rescue puppy dies

LAHORE:

One of the two handicapped children, who on Wednesday fell in a drain near China Scheme, has died.

According to Gujjarpura SHO Shahid Gujjar, the children had slipped while trying to rescue a puppy that had fallen into the drain. Two passers-by, Constable Muhammad Afzal and another man identified as Taj, had climbed down into the drain using a rope to save the children, said the SHO.

According to him 10-year-old Muhammad Saleem, a deaf-mute since birth, was in a critical condition and died at the Kot Khwaja Saeed Hospital.

The other child, Abid* who doctors say is mentally challenged, is still under treatment. Police handed over Saleem’s body to his parents.

*The name has been changed to protect the child’s identity

Published in The Express Tribune, January 19^th, 2012.