School trip turns tragic: Teacher dies as boat carrying students capsizes in Khanpur Dam

HARIPUR: A woman teacher died when a boat carrying students capsized in Khanpur dam on Tuesday.

Police quoted eyewitnesses as saying that 31 students and eight teachers of Muslim Public School Sadiqabad, Rawalpindi, were on a trip to Khanpur Dam where they hired a boat for a round in the reservoir.

When the boat reached the middle of the reservoir, according to eyewitnesses and police, the boatman started circling around the hillock and the boat accidentally hit the rock and overturned. All the passengers fell into the deep waters of Khanpur dam when the boat overturned, they said, adding, a female teacher identified as Saleha Bibi got stuck beneath the bottom of the capsized boat and died.

All other teachers and students, police officials said, remained safe as they were wearing life jackets and the rescue workers reached the point in time and shifted them to the Tehsil Headquarters Hospital, Khanpur. The woman teacher, Saleha Bibi, was also recovered from the water after an effort of sometime and shifted to the hospital where the doctors pronounced her as dead.

Regional Police Officer Mirvais Niaz and District Police Officer Kashif Aftab also reached the site and monitored the rescue operation. The DPO said that a case was registered against the arrested boat man, Kaleemullah, under criminal negligence.

He said that the Khanpur reservoir was one of the famous tourist spots in the district where thousands of picnickers visit during public holidays, the fitness of boats, safety measures and loading within the permissible limits would be ensured as the life of tourists could not be left at the mercy of boatmen. He said that the life jackets had helped the students and teachers stay safe.