Risky excursion: Four drown in upper Jhelum canal

One managed to swim ashore, but is in critical condition.

MIRPUR:

An excursion by a group of five young men to upper Jhelum canal went awry on Wednesday as four of them ended up drowning the water channel.

The group had gone for picnic at the bank of the canal in Malkan village, around 15km from Mirpur, and they all decided to take a plunge in to beat the heat, a senior official of Mangla Police Station told The Express Tribune.

He said they were inexperienced swimmers and got entangled in strong water currents. As a result, Jawaad Anwer, Shahid, Bilal and Naseem — all aged between 20 to 25 years — drowned, while Nadeem managed to swim ashore.

Nadeem was taken to a hospital where is condition is stated to be critical, whereas bodies of the four men are still missing.

The police called in professional divers to fish out the bodies. Efforts were underway till the filing of this report.

The police official said that people visiting the area are instructed not to swim in the canals and rivers, “but people don’t take these warnings seriously and end up loosing lives”.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 26^th, 2012.