Four friends died in a road accident when their car fell into an irrigation channel called the Naseer canal in Tando Allahyar district on Monday night, police said.

They were travelling in a car coming from Karachi when their car fell into the canal probably due to speeding, Mirpurkhas Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Saleem Shah told Dawn.com.

“The bodies were shifted to Karachi last night after they were fished out,” he said.

The deceased were identified as Abdul Ahad Sheikh son of Mohammad Aslam Sheikh 23, Sameer son of Rizwanuddin Siddiqui 21 Ali Shan son of Mohammad Iqbal 26 and Adeel son of Mohammad Azam Farooqui 20.

Ameen Gul Odh, Tando Allahyar police spokesperson, said that Abdul Ahad was resident of Mirpurkhas and had moved to Karachi.

He said that he was coming to meet his cousin, Asfand Leghari in Mirpurkhas with his friends in a rented car.

He said Ali Shan was a resident of Sialkot Punjab but was residing in Karachi.

They all were residing in the same neighbourhood in the metropolis.

Locals told police that Sameer and Adeel were also residents of Mirpurkhas Satellite Town but their families had moved to Karachi.

Local divers jumped into the canal to recover the bodies of all friends.

The incident was covered extensively on social media platforms by local residents.

One of them, Punhal Narejo spoke to a diver whose shop was located on the bridge over the canal.

He said that the car fell into the canal instead of crossing the bridge because of a “design fault” in the road.

According to SSP, the road leading to the bridge was a dual carriage way between Mirpurkhas and Tando Allahyar, but a single-road bridge was built over the canal.