SHIKARPUR: Four friends drowned and a fifth one was saved in a serious condition with the car they were travelling in plunged into a deep pond along the Shikarpur-Rustam road near Boriri village in the early hours of Thursday.

The victims were on their way to Jacobabad via Thull town after visiting their friends in Rustam town, according to the police officials at the Rustam police station.

The police said the driver lost control of the speeding vehicle causing it to skid and plunge into the pond.

Two of the deceased victims, Jamaluddin Mahar and Shahid Hussain Mughal, were residents of Jacobabad city and the two others, Abdul Latif Sarki and Abdul Ghafoor Qureshi, were residents of an area situated within Thull tehsil of Jacobabad district. The lone survivor of the accident, Abdul Qayum Sarki, who is a resident of Thull town, was admitted to the Jacobabad district headquarters hospital for treatment of multiple fractures and grave injuries. A post-mortem examination of the bodies was also performed at the hospital.

Soon after hearing about the accident, residents of the nearby localities rushed to the scene and divers among them jumped into the pool to rescue them.

They, with the help of the area police, transported all five victims to the hospital, where doctors declared four of them dead on arrival.

The bodies were sent to their areas of residence after legal formalities, the police said, adding that an investigation into the accident was under way.

Published in Dawn, November 4th, 2016