Boating tragedy in Nowshera: Two bodies recovered, four more feared dead

Five people were rescued while search for remaining people under way.

NOWSHERA/MINGORA: Two bodies were recovered after a boat capsized in Indus River at Kund in Khairabad, Nowshera, taking 11 of a family down with it. Five were rescued while four others are feared to have drowned.

Akora Khattak police station SHO Nasim Khan said the family came for a picnic to Kund Park from Farooq Azam Colony in Attock. He added the picnickers were boating at the point where the Kabul River meets the Indus River when the person steering the boat lost control and the vessel capsized.

He said all 12 people on-board fell into the water, but a diver present at the scene managed to rescue five people, while the body of a woman and a child were recovered. The owner of the boat fled the scene.

Khan said a search for the remaining bodies was under way.

Despite the rising water levels in the river, hordes of people come to the spot every day.

KP Chief Minister Pervez Khattak while taking strong exception of the drowning of several members of the same family on board in tragic capsize incident of a boat in River Kabul near Nowshera has expressed profound grief and sorrow over it and has called for inquiry report with immediate effect.

Two drown in Mingora

Two more people drowned in Swat River at Fizagat on Sunday.

Mingora police said the two people were bathing in the river when a strong current swept them away. Their bodies were recovered under Ayub Bridge and shifted to Saidu Teaching Hospital.

The victims were identified as Naveed Ali and Arshad, both from Buner district.

Deputy Commissioner Mahmood Aslam imposed Section 144 on swimming in the river and warned that legal action would be taken against violators under Section 188 of the Pakistan Penal Code.

This latest incident comes just days after four people drowned in Swat during Eid.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 4^th,2014.