DADU: Four cousins, aged 10 to 14 years, drowned to death while trying to save each other when one of them slipped into Rice Canal and the others jumped after to rescue him near Betto Jatoi village in Mehar taluka on Saturday.

Ashan Mal Bagri, 10; Mashan Mal, 11; Mithan, 13, and Rajoo, 14, were playing on the canal’s embankment when Ashan’s foot slipped and he fell down into deep waters. He cried for help and his cousins jumped after him one by one to save him and each other but they all drowned as they apparently did not know swimming, said villagers, who reached the accident site two hours later and managed to take out the dead bodies.

Sajoo Bagri, head of aggrieved families, said that the boys were cousins to each other. He said that they worked as peasants on nearby farmland. No representative of ruling political parties or official of district administration had contacted them to express condolence or offer help, he complained.

The bodies were brought to Mehar taluka hospital and were later handed over to relatives without autopsy.

Dadu SSP Aijaz Ahmed Shaikh said that DSP Mehar had started inquiry into the tragic incident.

Published in Dawn, May 2nd, 2021