SWAT: A woman and her infant daughter drowned when cable of a makeshift chairlift passing over the Swat River broke in Aryanai Pishmal area here on Saturday, local residents said.

“We were going back home in Budai Kamar area in a makeshift chairlift. We were four people, including my wife, daughter and granddaughter. When we reached the middle of the river, one of the cables of chairlift broke, hurling my daughter and granddaughter into the river.

“However, I managed to hold my wife and saved her,” said Abdul Mateen, the father of the drowned woman. He added that they remained trapped in the chairlift for about 30 minutes.

He said that inmates of a vehicle on the nearby road noticed and immediately informed Rescue 1122.

A rescue service spokesman said that its divers were searching for the bodies at different places of the river.

Haroon Rashid, a resident of Aryanai village, said that the 2010 floods had washed away two bridges over the river, cutting off about 10 villages from rest of the district.

He said that after getting fed up with the authorities, the people had installed makeshift suspension bridges and chairlifts for their daily commute across the river. He said that 2022 devastating floods had again washed away the bridges and chairlifts.

The residents of Aryanai demanded the reconstruction of the bridges on an emergency basis, one in Buddai Kamar area and the other in Aryani Kas area.

Meanwhile, a boy, namely Ziad Khan, committed suicide by shooting himself with a pistol in Sherpalam area of Matta tehsil, the police said.

The body was shifted to Matta hospital for postmortem.

Published in Dawn, June 25th, 2023