NOWSHERA, April 23: Divers of the Special Services Group on Sunday abandoned the search for bodies of six people who had drowned in the River Kabul on Friday evening.

The divers said that the bodies could not be found because of strong river currents. However, people continued to search along the banks of the river.

Six of the 11 men, who had gone for picnic to Nowshera Cantt in a boat, drowned after the boat capsized in the river. Five of the men were rescued.

Army divers were called in from Mangla after local divers failed to retrieve their bodies.

The deceased were identified as Shakeel, Adnan, Sajjad, Syed Afzaal, Bilal and Ishtiaq, while those who were rescued by local divers included Siddiq, Haroon, Jawad and Hamid. The identity of the fifth survivor could not be ascertained. The boatman escaped after the incident.

The army divers said that the bodies had probably been swept too far away from where the boat had overturned.

Meanwhile, as people continued to search for the missing bodies, representatives of the district government, including Nowshera Nazim Daud Khattak, supervised the rescue work.

Chief Minister Akram Khan Durrani announced Rs100,000 compensation for the families of the drowned men in addition to Rs100,000 announced by the district nazim.

The Nowshera tehsil nazim had also also announced Rs50,000 compensation.