Youth’s drowning: When the trauma lives on

Man regrets inability to save brother's life..

GILGIT: The biggest repentance that Shakeel Ahmed will carry for the rest of his life was his inability to rescue his drowning brother in the river.

“Why did God choose me for that moment? Why why why?” he cries and then smashes his head on walls as he remembers the moment when he suddenly spotted his brother in the river, who was struggling for life. Shakeel Ahmed told The Express Tribune on Tuesday that he was in a position to grab his drowning brother, and he did try it but failed to rescue him as water currents defeated his efforts.

“It’s a scar in my life I will carry till my death,” he said as he burst into tears. He said that all of his brothers and sisters were traumatised after the incident, as Rafiq Ahmed was the youngest brother and naturally the most loved one.

“Life for us has come to a standstill as everyone is in shock; we only have one purpose of living, to search for the body, nobody knows where it went,” he said, adding that the day the body is recovered will be the first day of their mourning.

The body has still not been recovered for the past 10 days despite round-the-clock efforts as temperatures in the valley have dropped to as low as -16 degree centigrade, freezing the river water.

Hundreds of people, including his brothers, relatives, local volunteers, and specialist swimmers brought from Islamabad have failed so far to spot the body in a 50-kilometre area from Ghakuch, the place where he drowned, up to Gilgit.

Rafiq Ahmed, about 25 years old, was an employee of the Family Planning Department in Gilgit. The tragic incident occurred on December 5 after he tried to cross the Ghizer River to collect a duck that he had shot minutes before with his gun. Unfortunately, the duck fell on the other side of the river; the young hunter thus had to pursue it there. It is presumed that when he reached the middle of the river, he may have slipped and drowned thereafter.

Shakeel said that he was passing through a bridge when he spotted a body in the river. “When I reached near the man I saw that he was my younger brother,” he said. He added that he jumped into the river to rescue him but the ruthless water didn’t allow it.

Since the shocking incident, the aggrieved family has been in a strange routine. Eating and sleeping is minimal, overshadowed by the search for the body. They set out from their homes at dawn amid freezing cold and spend entire days near the banks searching for the body of their beloved.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 17^th, 2010.