MULTAN: The body of the treasure hunter, who was buried in the hole he had dug in his home, was recovered on Monday after over about 12-hour search operation by the rescuers.

Zeeshan Alam Qureshi, 22, was buried alive in the hole he had dug in search of a treasure an ‘occultist’ had claimed existed underneath his house.

The rescuers, who were earlier reluctant to take a risk to retrieve the body of Zeshan, a resident of Delhi Gate, resumed the operation on Monday after District Coordination Officer Zahid Saleem Gondal ordered them to retrieve the body at any cost. The DCO had rejected the suggestion to make a grave at the place without recovering the body.

Mr Gondal told Dawn that he had offered all kinds of resources and equipment to Rescue 1122 officials for the recovery of the body besides making the buildings department officials available for their assistance.

Lauding the rescuers, the DCO said they had recovered the body while risking their lives. The rescuers reached the body after a 10-foot digging while the hole was 40 to 50 feet deep, he said.

The search operation started at 8:30am and over 24 rescuers participated in it. They reached the body at about 4pm when the rescuers saw one hand of Zeeshan while the efforts to take the body out of the shaft continued hours after that.

Rescue 1122 Public Relations Officer Abdul Jabbar said no heavy equipment was being used to recover the body and it was a manual search operation.

Zeeshan’s family had told the rescuers that they had lost track of him at about 1am on Saturday night.

Rescue teams reached the place but could not find a way to rescue the man or retrieve his body because the house was located in a congested area with narrow streets. The officials were earlier reluctant to send any rescuer down the hole because of risks of the soft crumbling earth.

FOUND DEAD: A newlywed couple was found dead mysteriously in their house at Mahmoodabad.

According to police, Anas and Um-i-Salma got married a couple of days back.

The family told the police the couple had attended a treat a relative had given for their marriage in his house.

Shah Shams police are waiting for medical report to determine the cause of their death.