DADU, July 19: Four devotees of Lal Shahbaz Qalandar, the most respected saint of Pakistan, drowned while taking bath in Aral Wah, Sapna Lake and Sim Nullah while two others died due to scorching heat in Sehwan on Monday and Tuesday.

The three-day 759th annual Urs of Qalandar Lal Shahbaz will start on July 21 but arrangements to supply water and stop people from swimming in the Indus, Aral Wah, Sapna Lake and Sim Nullah were not made properly.

Imran, 19, drowned in Aral Wah, an unidentified 20-year-old man drowned in Sim Nullah, two cousins Shahzad and Babar Raza, residents of Lyari, Karachi drowned, in Sapna lake while taking bath. Their bodies were recovered by Edhi workers.

A 50-year old unidentified man fell unconscious near the shrine of Shahbaz Qalandar due to scorching heat and died. Nazia, 55, resident of Multan, fell unconscious near the bus stand and was taken to a hospital where she breathed her last.

A Sehwan-based official of the Edhi centre, Nisar Ahmed, also confirmed the incidents. He said that two unclaimed bodies were buried at a graveyard in Sehwan while four bodies were sent to their hometowns and villages.

Our Khairpur correspondent adds:

Over one dozen people were injured, three of them critically, when a coach carrying devotees of the sufi saint from Sadiqabad overturned on the National Highway near Ranipur on Tuesday.

Area people and police reached took the injured to the Rural Health Centre in Ranipur.

Three of them were referred to a Larkana hospital due to their critical condition.

Our Sukkur correspondent adds:

At least 47 devotees of Lal Shahbaz Qalandar were injured when their bus going to Sehwan from Faisalabad overturned on the National Highway near Ubauro.

The bus overturned after its tie-rod broke and the driver lost control over it.