LARKANA: A pall of gloom fell over Sahib Khan Mallano village when four cousins aged 5-8 years drowned in a pond on its outskirts on Sunday evening.

The village is situated near Badah town.

A shepherd noticed the body of one girl floating in the pond and rushed to her home to alert the Mallano family, sources in the town said on Monday. The family went to the site and took out the body. In the meantime, they found the three other children missing.

They rushed back to the pond and started a search. Finally the bodies of three other children were also fished out.

It transpired that the girls had left the home while their parents and other close relatives had gone to attend a Muharram congregation.

The girls were playing and bathing in the pond when they drowned. The were identified as Bushra, 5, daughter of Zameer; Humaira, 7, daughter of Ishaq; Fatima, 6, daughter of Allahdino; and Aamna, 8, daughter of Bashir. The bereaved families belonged to the Mallano community.

Published in Dawn, July 8th, 2025