Strong tides: Two drown, bodies yet to be found

According to eyewitnesses, Basit and Ihsan were taking bath in the river, when strong tides swept them away. T

MUZAFFARABAD: Two young men drowned in Barsala, 15 kilometres from Muzaffarabad, while taking a bath in River Jhelum on Friday. Rescue teams and relatives continued their search but no headway had been mad to retrieve the bodies till the filing of this report. According to eyewitnesses, Basit, 21, and Ihsan, 22, both residents of Barsala, were taking bath in the river, when strong tides swept them away. The Barsala police said that they have conveyed a message to Dadyal, Azad Pattan and Mirpur police about the incident asking them to inform the Muzaffarabad police control room, if they spot the bodies. Meanwhile, the locals have demand that the Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) government to ban bathing in River Jehlum and River Neelum from May to August, as water level goes up during these months.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 13^th, 2013.