DERA GHAZI KHAN: Five members of a family, including four teenage girls, drowned when their boat sunk in the river Indus near Pattan Ghousia in tehsil Rujhan of district Rajanpur on Sunday.

Ten members of the Muhara family, including kids and women, were sailing across the river in a boat as routine as locals cross the river. The boat had a hole in it and as it sank as it was in the middle of the river.

Rujhan Sub-Divisional Police Officer Kaiwan Khan said it was a small boat and there was a hole in its bottom. The water got into the boat rapidly as it was overloaded, making the boat sink. Five children of the family, namely four girls and a seven-year-old boy, drowned in the river. The deceased were identified as Sharifaan, 14, Shehzadi, 17, Noraan, 17, Amina and Ehsan, 7.

Five other members of the family were rescued.

Published in Dawn, June 17th, 2019