KARACHI, July 23: Eight members of a family drowned while trying to rescue children who were swept away by the sea waves off Sandspit beach on Saturday morning.

“At around 6.15am, children of the family started playing at the beach. All of a sudden, they were swept into the sea by receding currents. This prompted five male members to jump into the sea, but all drowned one after the other,” said Raza Samad, president of the Pakistan Aquatic Life Saving (PALS), an NGO, whose lifeguards patrol the beach.

Unfortunately none knew swimming, he added.

A male member of the family rushed to a nearby village for help. Some lifeguards who resided nearby came hurrying in and recovered a girl, Erum, from the sea. She was taken to the nearby naval hospital at PNS Himaliya where she was stated to be in a stable condition.

Following the tragic incident, lifeguards of the city government, PALS and the Navy launched a joint search operation and fished out five bodies. They have been identified as those of Shahzeb, 12, Sheena, 12, Muhammad Shahid, 52, Muzzamil, 28, and Muzaffar Khan, 30.

Three others whose bodies could not be recovered were Tariq, 30, Ahsan, 15, and Faraz, 12. The search was continuing. The PALS official said these bodies might be washed ashore during the next 24 to 48 hours.

Around 40 members of the extended family from Landhi, F.B. Area and Nazimabad had converged on hut S-25 in Sandspit near PNS Himalaya late on Friday night.

“At six in the morning lifeguards neither patrol the seashore nor picnickers usually hit the beach,” the Chief Fire Officer said.

DCO Fazlur Rehman has directed the rescue service of the fire department to step up preventive measures and patrol the beaches.