KARACHI, Sept 16: The body of the boy, who had fallen into an uncovered manhole in Karimabad on Saturday afternoon, was found lying near Gujjar Nullah on Sunday about 22 hours after the incident.

Twelve-year-old Taha was playing with his friends near Al Karam Square when he fell into the manhole. Fire brigade personnel, Liaquatabad Town and Karachi Water and Sewerage Board officials failed to locate the body despite hours-long efforts, area people said, adding that Sharifabad police later reported that they had spotted the body near Gujjar Nullah in Nazimabad.

However, the fire department claimed that the fire brigade officials who took part in the rescue operation had found the body.

Second among three siblings, Taha was the son of Moinuddin, a journalist associated with an Urdu daily.

His death on the one hand exposes the indifference of the authorities concerned, which did not pay heed to the repeated requests of area people about the open manholes while, on the other, it raises serious questions about the ability of the institutions to reduce chances of such incidents in the future besides assigning the responsibility of search and rescue operations.

EDO Municipal Services Masood Alam said, “The fire brigade is neither actually responsible for launching such operations, nor we are equipped with proper facilities to take such initiatives. This is primarily a job of the KWSB. The fire brigade is only mandated to launch such operations in fire incidents, which we do the best within available resources,” he added.

He said the KWSB did not cooperate with the fire department team who rushed to the spot after receiving a complaint and launched the rescue operation without engaging in arguments with the water board officials over the job responsibility.

“We asked for a sketch of the whole nullah structure in the area that could help in planning such an operation, but they didn’t provide that to us,” said Mr Alam.

A senior official of the KWSB, who asked not to be named, denied any such responsibility under any department of the board. He said the KWSB lacked skilled manpower while trained firefighters had all those skills needed to conduct rescue operations. “That’s why we need the fire department’s assistance for such tasks,” he said, adding that the KWSB was responsible for water supply and sewerage only while rescue operations did not come under its purview.

However, he said the KWSB management had suspended the executive engineer (sewerage) on charges of negligence and ordered an inquiry into the matter.