KARACHI: A small girl who had drowned in a drain in the SITE area on Saturday could not be recovered by Sunday night despite hours-long rescue operation initially carried by Edhi workers and then by Pakistan Navy divers, said officials.

As rescue and search operation did not yield any positive result, it was ended on Sunday evening.

Four-year-old Noor Fatima had fallen into Orangi Nala while playing with other children on a makeshift bridge near her home behind the Valika hospital.

Around 40 to 50 residents of the same locality attempted to save her and jumped into the drain, but could not find her.

Subsequently, the rescue services were called in, who launched efforts to find her but till late evening, the efforts remained futile.

An Edhi Foundation spokesperson said that their four divers with the help of boats entered the drain and continued the search operation for hours, which was stopped because of darkness on Saturday night.

SITE-A SHO Yasin Gujjar said that on Sunday, a Pakistan Navy rescue team also joined the operation, but they also could not find the girl or her body.

The PN divers stopped their search on Sunday evening as the girl’s father, Asmatullah, said: “Almighty Allah has chosen this destiny for my daughter.”

The grief-stricken father told the media that it appeared to be pointless to continue the search.

The area SHO, quoting the divers, said that there was a heavy current of water in the drain and its flow might have taken the body far away. The police officer said that Khyber Colony was established adjacent to the drainwhere the residents have built small bridges on a self-help basis to cross over it.

Body of a man found

Meanwhile, the decomposed body of a drowned young man was recovered from the sea on Sunday near Ibrahim Hyderi, an Edhi Foundation spokesperson said.

Mohammed Salman, 30, had drowned in the sea near Chashma Goth around 12 days ago.

His body was found floating on the water on Sunday, which was retrieved and sent to the Edhi morgue.

Published in Dawn, January 27th, 2020