15 August 2004	Sunday	28 Jamadi-us-Saani 1425

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PESHAWAR, Aug 14: Nineteen picnickers are feared dead when a boat capsized due to overloading in the Kabul river near Khairabad on Saturday afternoon, officials and witnesses said.

Police have confirmed only four deaths and only one body has been recovered so far. Six people were rescued while search was under way in the deep water.

Officials said that divers from the Special Services Group (SSG) had arrived from Mangla Dam at Kund park where the incident took place. A large number of visitors had flocked to the park for the Independence Day celebrations.

Preliminary reports said that the incident occurred due to overloading. The boat was heading from Khairabad to the Kund National Park, about 70 kilometres east of Peshawar. Witnesses said that most of the missing people belonged to Peshawar, Nowshera, Mardan and Swabi.

Police officials, while quoting the boatman Mumtaz Gul, said that 25 people were on board.

Local divers rescued Fazl-i-Malik, Intikhab, Shahzad, Maqsood, Nasrullah belonging to Mardan and Peshawar districts, respectively.

The local authorities immediately informed the SSG officials at the Attock Fort and divers of the Pakistan Army were called in. Till the filing of this report search operation was in progress. The rescued people were rushed to the hospital.

Those killed in the accident were: Ishtiaq, son of Anwar Sher: Yasir, son of Altaf; Fayaz, son of Abdul Hakim; Irshad, son of Shamshad, and two other visitors who could not be identified.