At least 17 dead as flood rescue boat capsizes near Multan

Deceas­ed includ­e two childr­en and a bridgegroom

MULTAN: At least 17 people including a bridegroom and two children drowned Sunday when a rescue boat carrying a wedding party capsized near Sher Shah bridge, Multan, Express News reported.

The boat, which was carrying at least 35 people, went down in rough waters near Multan.

"Eleven people have died and 22 have been rescued," Shaukat Ali, a senior local government official, told AFP. "Rescuers are searching for more people missing in the water."

The dead included at least two children and a military official, said Ashiq Malik, medical superintendent of the nearby Nishtar Hospital.

Most passengers were members of a wedding party that had requested the use of the rescue boat to take them to a Valima.

Jam Sajjad, a spokesman for Punjab's rescue service, said around 35 people were believed to have been in the boat at the time.

"The family requested to cross the flooded river in the boat and were refused by military officials several times but they kept insisting," he said.

"The waves were moving fast and the family and other people panicked. They were asked to remain calm but they continued to panic, causing the boat to become unbalanced and capsize."

Floods and landslides from days of heavy monsoon rains have now claimed almost 500 lives in Pakistan and India.

Pakistan, which has suffered a series of annual flood disasters since 2010, says as many as 2.3 million people have been affected.

Rescue operations Sunday were concentrated around the central city of Multan, home to two million people, where authorities blew up two dykes to try to stop the water inundating the city.

"Multan is practically cut off from the surrounding districts: roads and railway track were submerged," Zahid Salim Gondal, a senior government official, told AFP, adding that 29,295 people had been rescued.

Some 300 villages around Muzaffargarh have been inundated and the flooding has also devastated thousands of acres of the cotton crop.

A Pakistan Navy spokesperson said rescue operations were underway as six people are reportedly still missing.

President expresses grief at the incident

President Mamnoon Hussain in a statement expressed "profound grief and sorrow" at the incident, Radio Pakistan reported.

“The government will continue all possible assistance for the relief and rehabilitation of flood affected people,” he added.