MUZAFFARABAD: Three friends belonging to three different towns of Punjab drowned in Neelum Valley of Azad Jammu and Kashmir on Sunday.

An official of Lawat police station, in the upper belt of Neelum Valley, told Dawn by telephone that the trio met the tragedy after one of them slipped into the icy Neelum river and the others jumped to rescue him but became victims of the killer waves.

Giving details, the official said that Waqas Ahmed, a resident of Sahiwal, Ammar Ashraf, a resident of Rahimyar Khan, and Adnan Sher Awan, a resident of Rawalpindi, were among a group of five friends on a tour to Neelum Valley since August 14.

On Sunday, they were on their way back to Muzaffarabad when they stopped near Munda Karru village to take some snaps by the bank of sea-green coloured river.

Waqas who was taking pictures of his friends suddenly lost balance and slipped into the water. Ammar and Adnan jumped after him but they too were swept away while their two other colleagues looked on in a state of helplessness and shock, the official said.

Local people managed to recover Waqas alive, but he expired on way to the hospital.

Bodies of Ammar and Adnan could not be retrieved till the filing of this report.

“Their survival is next to impossible. Let’s pray their bodies are located at the earliest,” the official said.

Published in Dawn, August 17th, 2015

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