HARIPUR: Several passengers, including women and children, were feared dead when a boat overturned in the Tarbela Lake near Brug village of a remote Narra Amazai Union Council in the Haripur district, police and villagers said here on Wednesday.However, official sources confirmed that the boat was carrying 40 passengers and some cattle head. Four bodies of minor children have been recovered, 12 men, including two boatmen, managed to reach ashore while the search for others still continued by the rescue teams. The cause of the accident was stated to be overloading, area people and police said. According to the sources, the boat overloaded with women, children and men was coming to Haripur from Torghar.When it reached Darra point in Tarbela Lake facing Brug village of Narra Amazai Union Council, heavy tides hit the boat, causing it to overturn.However, according to Haripur District Police Officer Zahidullah, some of the men managed to swim to the lake’s bank and called the area people for help.He said that at least 12 to 15 men swam to the bank with a bull that had also been loaded on to the ill-fated boat.There was information that the bodies of two children and two women were fished out while others were still missing.To a question, he said that it was not confirmed how many passengers exactly were on the boat.The official said there were diverse types of information pouring in as some were saying 90 passengers and a few farm animals were on the boat while others claimed that only 40 to 50 passengers were sailing in the lake.He said the boat that sails the Lake usually carries 40 to 50 passengers.For taking part in the rescue operation, he said that police force from Ghazi, Narra Amazai, Khalabat Township, Beer and Swabi Maira police stations have been moved to the point of the accident but as the area was remote having no proper road link, they would reach late.However, he said on his request, the army divers from Tarbela Dam and local divers reached the point and launched a search operation for the missing boat passengers.He was sceptical about the safety of missing passengers as the rescue teams faced problem first identifying the point and second reaching there.Additional Deputy Commissioner Baidullah Shah, while talking to The News, said volunteers from the Revenue Department and local government had been moved to the Brug area for helping the divers and shifting the bodies to the rescue camp, which was set up on the banks of Tarbela Lake near Khalabat Township.The official said emergency had been declared in all the government hospitals. He was also not sure about the survival of missing passengers whose majority comprised of women and children.Meanwhile, according to Deputy Commissioner Arifullah Awan, there were 35 to 40 passengers on the boat with some livestock and it capsized due to overloading.He said that four bodies of the minor children had been recovered and shifted to Trauma Centre, 10 men rescued while the search for other missing persons was still on by the rescue teams of Pakistan Army and other divers till the filing of this report.
07-04-2019, 01:51 PM
Several feared dead as boat capsizes in Tarbela Lake
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