Swimming accident: Another youth drowns in Rawal Lake

Raja’s family launched a search for him after he went missing.

ISLAMABAD:

Despite warnings, youngsters continue to risk their lives by diving in Rawal Lake, where swimming is prohibited because of strong undercurrents. One such young man drowned in the lake on Thursday, in yet another swimming attempt gone wrong.

Wasim Raja, 23, a resident of Rehmanabad Chaklala, went missing from his house in the afternoon, according to Secretariat police. His family launched a search for him and found his motorbike parked near Rawal Lake.

“He used to go to the lake for swimming,” his family told the police. Raja’s clothes and shoes were found on the banks of the lake. At this point, his family called the police for help.

Secretariat police reached the scene and asked divers to search for Raja underwater. After a brief search, the divers managed to find his body, which was transferred to Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences, but the family did not want a postmortem to be conducted.

“They said his (Raja’s) death was accidental and they did not want an autopsy,” said a police official. The body was handed over to family for burial.

The police official said that a sign warning against swimming in the lake has been fixed by the Capital Development Authority (CDA). “There are also red flags placed at dangerous points. CDA watchmen are also deployed at dangerous points in the lake,” said the official.

He said young men quarrel with the watchmen when they are asked to refrain from diving in the dam. “They say it’s our lives,” said the police official, quoting CDA guards.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 1^st, 2012.