HARIPUR: Several casualties are feared as a boat carrying dozens of passengers sank in Tarbela Lake near Guliman Banda — a remote village of Tehsil Ghazi — of Haripur district in Khyber Paktunkhwa on Wednesday.

According to sources, over 40 persons, including women and children, and cattle were on board the boat when the incident occurred.

Officials said that four bodies were recovered while a search and rescue operation continued for others. They said that at least 12 people swam to the reservoir bank after the boat going to Haripur went down in the lake.

Rescue officials quoted the district administration as saying that floating bodies of four children were recovered by the locals and shifted to a trauma centre, while about 12 passengers — all of them young men — including two boatmen, managed to swim to the bank after the boat sank.

Haripur District Police Officer Dr Zahidullah Jan told Dawn that over 40 people with a few animals and luggage were on their way to Haripur from Torghar district.

Since the boat was small and overloaded, it capsized near Barag village of Nara Amazai union council between 12 noon and 1pm, he said.

He said that police teams from Khalabat Township, Beer, Swabi Mera, Ghazi and Nara Amazai stations had been moved to the spot for the rescue operation. Mr Jan said that he had also requested the military authorities stationed at the Tarbela Dam for immediate support.

He said that the divers from Pakistan Army’s Tarbela Dam units had flown to the spot and launched the search and rescue operation.

Rescue officials said that divers’ teams from Peshawar, Haripur, Nowshera and Abbottabad had also reached the spot for the search and rescue operation.

When contacted, Torghar district nazim Dilroz Khan said that the boat had left for Haripur from Judba at around 9am carrying about 40 passengers and some sacrificial animals.

He said that the boatman had also picked passengers from a village of Shangla and Darband village of Mansehra and the boat was overloaded, which sank near the Chandani Chowk point of Tarbela Lake.

According to a press release issued by the office of Haripur Deputy Commissioner Arifullah Awan, a medical camp has been established on the bank of Tarbela Lake near Padhana from where the bodies and rescued persons would be transported to the trauma centre.

Published in Dawn, July 4th, 2019