THATTA: Seven members of the Tableeghi Jamaat drowned after the tri-wheeler they were travelling in fell into the KDA Canal, located some 14 kilometres from here, along National Highway on Monday evening. Local divers managed to rescue three other group members soon after the incident.

The survivors said that a 10-member group of Tableeghi Jamaat had hired a loader rickshaw (having a capacity of 10-12 persons) to proceed to Gul Manda, a small settlement within Thatta district, with intention to stay at a mosque there in their preaching tour. They took the route of KDA Canal bank which is a shorter one to reach Gul Manda than the main route along the highway. They said the tri-wheeler overturned due to some unknown reason and plunged into the canal.

The survivors — Ali Gul Khan, a resident of Malir, Karachi; and Mohammad Naseer and Abdul Ali, residents of Sohrab Goth, Karachi — said residents of a nearby village rushed to their rescue after hearing a hue and cry and some of them dived into the canal and save them from drowning.

Later, many other people joined the rescue operation and after many hours of hectic efforts, seven bodies were fished out. The deceased were identified as Muzammil Shah, the emir of the group and a resident of Karachi, Asif Ali, also a resident of Karachi’s Bihar Colony locality, Gohar Baig, a resident of Peshawar, and four residents of Dhabeji identified as Gul Rehman, Ameer Hamza Khaskheli, Rasool Mohammad and Maqbool Ahmed.

Published in Dawn,May 24th, 2022