KARACHI: As if the heart-breaking pictures and videos being shared on social media and the news were not enough, there were more tragic scenes to brave as the 10 victims of drowning at Keenjhar Lake were being laid to rest at the Army Graveyard at Asr time on Tuesday.

Earlier, relatives and friends still unable to fathom the tragedy poured in at the two homes in Mehmoodabad and PECHS Block 6.

Yousuf Khan was still in shock and unable to speak after losing his wife, three daughters, sister and little niece in the incident.

Thatta police get four-day remand of boatman; activities at the lake suspended

Usman Ghani, his cousin, who had lost his wife and three daughters, had his own way of handling his grief. He screamed and yelled at the media representatives to go away and leave him alone as they were not putting up a show for them.

Two survivors remain unconscious

Meanwhile, two survivors lay unconscious at the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre.

Ayaz Khan Swati, a nephew of Yousuf Khan, came out to speak to the media. He said that there were 22 picnickers in all from the same family who had gone to Keenjhar Lake for recreation following the coronavirus lockdown.

“Twelve of them, nine grown-ups — Alisha, Hiba, Musarrat, Maheen, Rasheeda, Sadia, Shazia, Uzma and Urooj, and three children Aman, Ayeza and Maham — were in the boat which capsized. Some say that the boat had a hole in it and some say that it was overloaded as it only had a capacity for carrying four people. Only the two who are still unconscious in hospital — Maheen and Rasheeda — will be able to tell us more about that,” he said.

“But if the boat was overloaded, then we solely blame the boatman for the murder of 10 people. It was only to earn more money that he charged per person [and] took more passengers in his boat. The picnickers didn’t know about the capacity but the boatman did,” Mr Swati pointed out. “There were also no safety jackets for the family to wear,” he added.

The neighbourhood was drowned in sorrow.

Yousuf Khan’s younger brother couldn’t stop the tears as he spoke about little Maham, the youngest of the three children who also lost their lives in the tragedy.

“She was only one and a half year old. She had only just started talking. It was only recently that she had also started taking her first steps,” he cried remembering the toddler.

A neighbour, Sahil Khan Niazi, had her happy, smiling picture in a cute frock and wearing a headband with a bow in his phone, which he shared with others, only to make them sadder.

Close-knit community in mourning

“This neighbourhood has Swati Pakhtuns and Niazis mostly and almost all of them happen to be related to each other in some way or the other,” said neighbour Raees Khan Niazi.

With brimming eyes, yet another neighbour, Amanullah Niazi, recalled the happenings of the previous day.

“I was in office when I got a phone call from my son who runs a sports and toy shop here to tell me what he had just heard. At the time there was too much confusion. We were getting conflicting news. Some said that two had drowned and some said three. But even we were not prepared to hear that between the two families there had been 10 deaths,” he said, wiping his tears with his sleeve.

“I have grown up here in this very neighbourhood along with Yousuf and Usman. We went to school together. Then our children also attended school together here. When my wife heard what had happened she couldn’t handle it. She is inconsolable,” he shared.

“You know, Yousuf has four younger brothers all of whom live in the same neighbourhood. Usman is also the son of Yousuf’s paternal aunt. They are all very close. I don’t know how they will cope with a tragedy of this magnitude. How does one recover from it?”

Around late afternoon, some nine Edhi coffin-carrying ambulances for the bodies of the nine older victims along with a hi-roof ambulance carrying the remains of baby Maham lined up for their final journey towards the Army Graveyard that was situated not far from the neighbourhood.

The funeral prayers of the victims were attended by a huge number of people including VIPs.

Activities at Keenjhar halted

According to the information coming in from Thatta, the boatman, Abdul Jabbar, has been remanded in police custody for four days on the complaints of the family against him.

All activity has also been halted at Keenjhar Lake.

All hotels around the lake also remained closed on Tuesday.

Published in Dawn, August 19th, 2020