SUKKUR: Nine children, both girls and boys, were killed and two youngsters (a boy and a girl) were injured when a mud wall fell on them in Ghulam Sarwar Shambani village of Salehpat taluka in Sukkur district on Thursday.

According to a report, minor boys and girls belonging to different families of the Shambani community were playing adjacent to the mud wall of a katcha house built on sand in a desert area in Ghulam Sarwar Shambani village of taluka Salehpat when all of a sudden the wall collapsed and fell on the children.

As a result, nine children — Jilbat, 4, Razia, 10, Rukhsana, 7, Yakoob, 4, Guddi, 10, Rukhsana, daughter of Bilawal, 12, Ghulam Akbar, 9, Manzooran, 6, and Sitara — were killed while a girl, Sachi Dini, and a boy, Dilshad, were injured. The injured were admitted to the taluka hospital of Rohri. They were later shifted to the Civil Hospital Sukkur.

Commissioner’s directives

Commissioner of Sukkur division Rafiq Ahmed Buriro took notice of the tragic incident in Ghulam Sarwar Shambani village and issued directives to the district administration and health department telling them to take measures to prevent such incidents in future.

He expressed his sorrow over the tragedy and sympathised with the bereaved families over the death of children and also ordered conduct of an inquiry headed by the deputy commissioner of Sukkur and the district health officer of Sukkur to investigate the incident and submit to him a detailed report within 24 hours.

Sukkur DC Ghulam Murtaza Shaikh also took notice of the wall collapse and arrived in the Civil Hospital Sukkur to inquire after the children’s health.

Published in Dawn, October 12th, 2018