THATTA, Nov 6: Thirty-five people drowned when their motorboat capsized in Moosa Creek in the Arabian Sea near the coastal settlement of Keti Bunder on Friday morning.

The boat was carrying 53 people, including the crew, all from the Bachal Soomro village in Keti Bunder taluka. The villagers were going to attend the funeral of a relative in the island village of Moosa Soomro. When the boat reached mid-waters it hit an underwater rock and its plank broke up. Only 18 of the passengers, including a woman, could swim ashore.

Pakistan Fisherfolk Forum’s district president Syed Gulab Shah told journalists that the boat had capsized due to overloading.

PFF Chairman Mohammad Ali Shah, who made funeral arrangements on behalf of the forum, criticized the government for its failure to set up rescue centres along the Thatta coastal belt as promised. Many lives could have been saved had such centres been set up, said.

The adviser to the Sindh Chief Minister on forests, Mr. Aijaz Ali Shah Shirazi, and his brother, Thatta District Nazim Shafqat Hussain Shah Shirazi, visited the place and the nazim announced Rs 25,000 compensation to be paid to the heir of each of the deceased.

People’s Party Parliamentarians MPSs Sassui Palijo and Humera Alwani also reached the village. Ms Palijo distributed Rs. 100,000 among heirs of victims.

The victims included Ms Jiloo Soomro, Lakhano, Ms Khairan, Ms Saran, Hashim, Abdul Karim, Fatima, Sughran, Ali Nawaz, Abdul Rehman, Shafi, Khairi, Hawa, Mohammad Bachal, Aminat, Rozan, Saima, Nooran, Rahiman, Hanif Bano, Zubaida and Idrees.

A Sindh government handout issued on Sunday confirmed the death of 33 people — 17 women, seven men and nine children — in the accident. Their bodies were found by divers of the Naval Task Force, Rangers and the Pakistan Fisherfolk Forum.

The handout said rescuers were till trying to recover two missing sisters, one of them married and the other three years old.

Provincial Planning and Development Minister Shoaib Bukhari and Advisor Salahuddin Haider visited the village and met relatives of the victims. They said they would request the Sindh government to announce immediate compensation for the bereaved families.