HARIPUR: A man and his minor nephew drowned in the Haro River near Khanpur Dam here on Friday.

Two children were, however, rescued by the locals, police and witnesses said.

Khanpur police quoted witnesses as saying that a man from Islamabad along with his two sons and a nephew was on a picnic to the Khanpur Dam. They said since the district administration had banned swimming and bathing in the Khanpur reservoir and its canals, the man decided to take bath with children in the Haro River that usually flows with water seeping from the Khanpur Dam and is used for flushing out surplus water.

While bathing near Tarnava Bridge, one of the minor boys drowned, and in a bid to rescue the boy, his uncle jumped after him, but drowned.

Some witnesses rushed for help and rescued the two minor boys while the man identified as Mohammad Hamid, and his nephew, Mohammad Rafay, 8, could not be rescued.

The local divers fished out the bodies and shifted them to the Tehsil Headquarters Hospital, Khanpur.

Meanwhile, for saving the lives of swimmers and boat riders in the Khanpur Dam the Rescue 1122 would use speedboats, said Arshad Ayub Khan, chairman district development advisory committee, here on Friday.

Addressing a ceremony, the PTI MPA said the Rescue 1122 had earlier lacked the facility of rescuing picnickers from drowning in the dam and its services were limited to fishing out the bodies.

However, the Khanpur tehsil’s Rescue 1122 centre has been equipped with two new speedboats and trained staff that would be used for rescuing the passengers and picnickers in case of accidents in the reservoir, he added.

The lawmaker said two boats would remain in the reservoir round-the-clock.

Published in Dawn, August 1st, 2020