• Search for missing child delayed as KWSC, town concerned fail to assist, say rescuers
• Three-year-old Ibrahim laid to rest amid moving scenes

KARACHI: The body of a three-year-old boy who drowned in an open manhole near Nipa in Gulshan-i-Iqbal on Sunday night was found on Monday, around 15 hours after the incident.

The tragic event, particularly the lack of cooperation from relevant civic agencies to launch an immediate search, angered relatives and area residents, who staged a protest on University Road on Sunday night and again during the day on Monday.

The official apathy can be gauged from the statement of a Rescue 1122 spokesperson, who said that civic bodies such as the Karachi Water and Sewerage Corporation, the concerned town administration and others did not provide rescuers with the required information regarding the entry and exit flow of the drain.

As a result, the rescue teams had to conduct searches at seven places, and the body was found at the last spot, around two kilometres away from the manhole.

According to witnesses and officials, the victim, identified as Ibrahim Nabil, was accompanied by his parents while shopping at a departmental store near Nipa. They said the boy fell into the manhole after the family left the store.

The child’s father also told the media that Ibrahim ran towards his motorbike in the parking area without realising the open manhole and fell.

Rescue 1122 spokesperson Hassaan-ul-Haseeb Khan told Dawn they received information about the incident at 10pm on Sunday night.

He added that the rescue body did not usually initiate search operations at night due to a lack of visibility. But since a huge crowd had gathered, who were “highly agitated”, and the parents were in a state of extreme distress, the rescue’s lifeguards started the operation inside the drain but could not trace the boy.

Mr Khan said the water rescue team, along with a rescue vehicle, continued the search for a considerable time, but the boy could not be traced till late at night.

He said their rescue operation began again in the morning, and after several hours, the boy’s body was found floating in the drain at a distance of around two kilometres from the place of the incident.

The spokesperson said their teams faced difficulties in bringing heavy machinery to the spot because of road blockades.

Area residents rushed to the scene, and they were later joined by the boy’s relatives and reportedly by political and religious activists.

When the search operation was halted, they staged a protest on University Road near Nipa, where traffic remained suspended for over three hours, according to police and traffic officials.

The protesters lit bonfires and some of them allegedly pelted law enforcers with stones.

On Monday evening, a large number of people including politicians attended the funeral prayers for Ibrahim in Shah Faisal Colony. He was laid to rest in a local graveyard amid moving scenes.

Meanwhile, the tragic incident triggered widespread outrage across the political spectrum on Monday, with opposition parties including Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan, Jamaat-i-Islami, Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf, Majlis Wahdat-i-Muslimeen, Grand Democratic Alliance, Markazi Muslim League and others squarely blaming the PPP-led provincial administration and the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) for what they termed “criminal negligence”.

The boy’s death, they said, reflected a complete collapse of civic management in the city and demanded that Karachi Mayor Murtaza Wahab resign immediately.

Published in Dawn, December 2nd, 2025