Three children drown in Faisalabad pond

Rescue workers are still searching for another two children who are reportedly missing

FAISALABAD: At least three children drowned while rescuers managed to recover another two alive from a freshwater pond near Makkoana-Khurarianwala bypass in Faisalabad on Monday.

Around seven children went to take a bath in a pond which was created after rainwater accumulated in a dugout created as a result of extracting clay by kiln workers for making bricks, Muhammad Aslam, an eyewitness, told The Express Tribune.

Read: Negligence: Three-year-old drowns in drain

Some passers-by informed Rescue 1122 about the incident and the rescuers reached the spot after at least 20 minutes, Aslam added. However, Rescue 1122 District Emergency Officer Ehtisham Anjum claimed that rescue teams immediately reached the spot.

Rescue teams recovered three bodies which were identified as five-year-old Talib Idrees, six-year-old Kiran and eight-year-old Yaseen Jaffer, the official said. Anjum added that seven-year-old Taj Jaffer was shifted to Allied Hospital in critical condition.

Meanwhile, rescue workers are still searching for the other two children who are reportedly missing and are believed to have drowned in the same pond.

Read: Deadly water: Picnic turns into nightmare as 2 drown

Earlier this month, two young men drowned in River Ravi and a third was rescued at Mari Patan. Tandlianwala police said the three had arrived there for a picnic. “Shehreyar, 20, Ali Raza, 18, Fahad, 16, came from Okara to picnic at the bank of the River Ravi. They were all first year students of Pharmacy College Sahiwal,” police said.