SIALKOT, Sept 28: The body of another victim of the Tuesday’s van tragedy was fished out on Wednesday from Daska BRB canal, raising the death toll to seven.

Several special search teams, including army divers and police personnel, combed the canal in a bid to recover more bodies, if any, from it.

The army divers, along with boats, headed by a major, were called in from Mangla, while the canal was closed by the Irrigation department after the accident.

Reports said the driver, Rana Ajmal, adopted the dangerous declared route for his overloaded Ford van, instead of the actual route passing through Daska city, to avoid traffic police checking.

Gujranwala DIG Zafar Abbas Lak, Sialkot DPO Usama Mumtaz Raja and DSP Sher Muhammad Sial, who supervised the search operation, ruled out the possibility of presence of more bodies in the canal.

A large number of school and college students also assisted in the search operation.

Although the exact number of the passengers boarding the van could not be confirmed, the police claimed that 25 people including women and children were in the vehicle (AJKA-9454) when it plunged into the canal.

Police claimed seven bodies had yet been recovered, while 11 persons were recovered live from the canal soon after the accident. The remaining six persons were also rescued by the local villagers immediately, they claimed.

Sialkot district government officials have strongly denied the death toll figures given by the press.

DPO Usama Mumtaz Raja told the newsmen that although there was almost no possibility of presence of more bodies in the canal, the search operation would continue.

According to the FIR lodged by Daska City police on the report of a survivor, Muhammad Asghar, of Koreyki village, the van plunged into the canal due to overloading and over-speeding.