LAHORE: As many as 12 people, including six minors, were found dead after a speeding loader rickshaw carrying 24 people fell into the Muzaffargarh Canal on Monday night after attending a marriage ceremony in a nearby village, it emerged on Tuesday.

On Monday, three loader rickshaws carrying a wedding procession were travelling to Basti Arain from Lomar Wala in Kot Addu district when one of the rickshaws lost control due to overspeeding and fell into the Muzaffargarh Canal near Sheikho Sugar Mills in Sanawan.

A rescue operation was launched after three people climbed out of the canal on their own and alerted Rescue 1122 on Monday. Subsequently, the local community, along with Rescue 1122, pulled out six people alive and recovered three bodies.

On Tuesday, as the operation continued, Kot Addu Rescue in-charge Osama Zeeshan told Dawn that nine more bodies had been recovered from the canal, taking the total toll to 12.

He added that the operation was still under way to recover the remaining people.

He said eight divers and 22 swimmers from Kot Addu and Muzaffargarh districts were taking part in the operation, with the help of the local community.

Zeeshan added that bodies had been recovered from 5, 7, 15 and 20 kilometres away from the site of the incident, and that rescuers had searched a 32km stretch of the canal.

The canal is estimated to be 12-15 feet deep and 100-120 feet wide, with a water flow of between 2,500 and 4,000 cusecs, irrigating 800,000 acres in the Kot Addu and Muzaffargarh areas.

Earlier this year, at least four people were killed and 28 injured when a bus carrying a wedding procession overturned in Punjab’s Lodhran district.