GUJRAT: Six members of a family -- two women and four children -- drowned in the Jhelum near Malakwal Town of Mandi Bahauddin district on Thursday.

The incident occurred when the family’s car was loaded on a boat to cross the river from Pind Daden Khan to Malakwal’s Noorpur Heeran village.

Rescue officials said the boat capsized after losing its balance in the water and the car too plunged into the river resulting in the instant death of six people of the same family.

The deceased were identified as Azmat Bibi and Shahnaz Bibi as well as six-year-old Ghayur Abbas and Shehroz Abbas, Shaheer Abbas (8) and Raana (2).

The rescue teams recovered the bodies from the river and shifted them to Malakwal Tehsil Headquarters hospital.

The local administration said arrangements were being made to dispatch the bodies to their native village Peera Wala, Jhelum district, for burial.

Meanwhile, Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz took notice of the incident and on her direction the Mandi Bahauddin deputy commissioner also reached the Malakwal THQ hospital.

The DC said the CM had announced a financial compensation of Rs6 million for the heirs of the deceased – Rs1m each deceased. He said cheques would soon be handed over to the heirs.

The residents of Malakwal and Pind Daden Khan have long been demanding the construction of a bridge over the Jhelum for a road linkage between both these towns as the residents are compelled to travel through boats due to the unavailability of road connection.

Though both the towns are linked through the railway track, the train plies on the route twice a day.

Arrested: The local administration has got arrested a fake magistrate of consumer protection council (CPC) in Gujrat after registration of a fraud case against him.

The arrested man would mint money from local traders by pretending to be a representative of CPC.

Shafiqur Rehman, a hotelier, conveyed to Gujrat AC Bilal Zubair that a man claiming to be a magistrate of CPC was demanding Rs40,000 as fine. The AC along with his team and police reached the spot and arrested the suspect, identified as Muhammd Asif of Gegian village.

Some other traders of the area also lodged complaints against the suspect.

Civil lines police have registered a case against Asif under sections 419 and 420 of PPC on the report of Rehman.

Published in Dawn, May 17th, 2024