Haripur boat tragedy

Case registered against errant boatman

By our correspondent

HARIPUR: The police claimed to have registered murder case against the boatman for allegedly resorting to overloading, cops said on Friday At least 40 passengers drowned when an overloaded boat coming from Torghar district capsized near the Brug village on Wednesday.

Four bodies of minor children were recovered while over 10 persons, including boatman later identified as Naqeebullah, a resident of Shangla, survived but all other passengers were feared dead. Police said that on the complaint of SHO of the Nara Amazai Police Station, Tanvir Khan, an FIR was registered against Naqeebullah under Section 322 of the PPC (murder without intention). However, the accused was not yet arrested, the police said.

Meanwhile, the divers of Pakistan Army, Rescue 1122 and some locals continued the operation for the third consecutive day on Friday. They attempted to pull back the overturned boat in the hope that there could be some bodies stuck beneath it but they could not do so due to heavy mud and flow of water. According to divers, Friday’s operation also failed to achieve the target and it was mainly due to heavy flow of water and silt that have completely covered the boat.

According to Samiullah Khan, a member of the Haripur Tehsil Council, who had been leading some rescue workers from the day one of the tragic incident, the teams of divers had shifted their camps about five kilometres downstream. He quoted some of the divers as sharing the hope that they expect recovery of some bodies that might have swept downstream.