Accident: Two-year-old drowns in sewer tank

MULTAN: A two-year-old child drowned in a sewer tank in Wajadabad area in Multan on Thursday. The body of Saadia, daughter of Muhammad Hanif, was recovered from the tank by officials of Rescue 1122 and Water and Sanitation Agency (WASA) and handed over to the family. Residents said the nine-foot deep and eight-foot wide tank was a citizens’ initiative to overcome drainage problems they had been facing for several years. They said they had filed several complaints with the WASA but no action had yet been taken to revamp the outdated drainage system in the area. An emergency meeting was later held at the Wasa office where Managing Director Muhammad Shamim directed all XENs to hold regular field visits to inspect sewers in their areas. He said strict action would be taken against officials concerned in case of a similar accident in future.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 24^th, 2012.