RAWALPINDI/ISLAMABAD: Five people were swept away in drains during Friday’s rain in two different incidents, police said.

In the first incident, two youngsters were swept away in a drain along Sajid Bukhari Road, Race Course police said. Some people were bathing in the drain when a teenager among them was swept away.

The missing youth was identified as Nouman Farid. Soon after he went missing, another boy named Rehan Masih swimming in the same nullah was lost in the water.

In the second incident, three children belonging to the same family went missing in a drain in Dhoke Khabba.

Shahzeb, 5, Zahra, 6, and Farhan, 5, were passing by a nullah when a gush of water swept them into the nullah.

Rescue personnel reached the site and started looking for the missing children but had to abandon the search due to darkness.

Till the filing of the report, none of the missing youngsters had been recovered.

Earlier, heavy rain during the afternoon signalled the end of drought-like conditions in Murree, Islamabad and northern Punjab.

According to the Met Office, the temperature rose to 42°C by late afternoon and humidity was up to 40pc.

The rain was accompanied by strong winds with speeds of up to 60kmph whereas the speed of wind near the new Islamabad airport was more than 86kmph as it blew from the northwest.

“Such conditions occur during pre-monsoon rains and gusty winds regularly change directions,” an official of Met Office said. Islamabad received a sudden gush of rain of around 26mm within 15 minutes from 5pm to about 5:15pm.

By 6pm, Islamabad had received up to 42mm of rain, Rawalpindi had received 34mm and Murree 10mm of rainfall.

The rain stopped just before sunset but soft cool winds continued, making for a pleasant evening.

Published in Dawn, June 16th, 2018