Bodies of two brothers who drowned in the Chenab river in Muzaffargarh district on Sunday night were recovered on Monday.
Imran, 22, and Ramazan, 20, had gone for a picnic together with six of their friends to the bank of River Chenab in the Omarpur rural area. None of them reportedly knew how to swim.
Irfan, Dilawar, Khizar and Ayaz, all identified only by their first names, had gone into knee-deep water when a strong current swept them into deeper water. Imran, Ramazan, Yousuf and Shahzad jumped into the water to save them. Witnesses said that it was clear that none of the four trying to rescue their friends could swim.
They said the four just disappeared in the Chenab, where the water depth can exceed 30 feet.
Some residents of the area informed Rescue-1122 and tried to save the youth themselves. Residents and rescue personnel managed to get Irfan, Dilawar, Khizar and Ayaz out of the water but the other four could not be found.
The efforts to locate them were suspended around midnight on Sunday and had resumed Monday morning.
The bodies of Yousuf and Shahzad were yet to be found. The district administration planned to close the water channels flowing out of the Chenab following Rescue-1122 experts’ advice.
Published in The Express Tribune, June 3rd, 2014.