MUZAFFARABAD, March 2: A six-year-old boy drowned in the channel of the Kundal Shahi hydropower station in northeastern Neelum Valley on Friday, causing widespread resentment among local people who urged the authorities concerned to cover it.

The boy, identified as Aqeel Ahmed, was on his way to school when he fell into the water channel running along a pedestrian track. When the boy did not return home by midday, his family launched a search and found his body floating in the channel.

Criticising the officials’ lack of concern, local people said that they had repeatedly pointed out the hazards of the open water channel but the authorities concerned had not paid any heed.

Nasiruddin Mughal, a local resident, said that some women and children had earlier fallen into the channel but they had been rescued.

He said that the water channel should be covered since it passed through a populated area, posing a serious threat to children’s well-being.