BAHAWALPUR, July 7: Several people in Cholistan, including women and children, are feared to have died owing to scorching heat and shortage of potable water in the vast desert during the past couple of days.

Dawn learnt on Friday that many Cholistanis and their livestock had been killed for want of water in the parts of greater Cholistan on the north side of Rahim Yar Khan.

Most parts of the greater Cholistan comprises sand dunes of high altitude where drinking water is scarcely available as this part of the desert could not be supplied with drinking water through turbines and pipelines which were laid last year in some areas of smaller Cholistan touching the boundaries of Bahawalpur.

Information gleaned by this correspondent revealed that the ill-fated families, along with their herds, moved to water ponds in search of drinking water which they could not find and breathed their last.

The Cholistan Development Authority managing director, Brig Ahsan Tiwana (retired), confirmed some deaths and said he could not give the exact number of deaths. He said reports of four or five deaths had poured in at his office.

He said a survey was in progress with the assistance of the army to ascertain the actual number of deaths.

He said the number of victims could be higher since there was no proper rain in the area.

KILLED: Two persons were killed in a bus-oil tanker collision near Khanqa Sharif bypass, about 15 kilometres from here, on Friday.