KARACHI, March 23: Mohammad Rizwan, 18, drowned off Sonehra Beach, 26 kilometres from Hawkesbay, on Tuesday afternoon. He had come to the beach with his classmates and teachers from the Middle East Coaching Centre in Mahmoodabad, Block 6.

The Rescue Emergency Response Centre of the city government looked for the boy's body till the evening without success. Another search operation will be mounted on Wednesday. Four lifeguards rescued at least seven people from drowning near Cape Monze, 12 kilometres from Hawkesbay, on Tuesday.

The family - four-year-old Rimsha, three-year-old Hasan, 13-year-old Fabeeha, six-year-old Farzan, 10-year-old Faeha, 40-year-old Feroze and 45-year-old Farrukh - had come from Gulistan-i-Jauhar, Block 18.

The lifeguards who took part in the rescue operation were Sakhi Bukhsh, Shahjahan, Mahmood Ali and Akhtar Ali. The body of six-year-old Abu Huraira was recovered from an open manhole in Baghdadi on Tuesday. According to the police, he died from drowning. He had gone missing on March 19.

Area residents poured onto the streets in protest against the authorities who, they claimed, had done nothing to cover the manhole which had claimed the lives of at least seven children over the past three years. The medicolegal officer of the Civil Hospital Karachi said that the boy had been criminally assaulted. The police registered a case of kidnapping for murder.