5 people drowned after a rescue boat capsized in flood-hit Pakistan's Multan district

At least five people drowned after a rescue boat capsized in the Chenab River in Pakistan’s Multan district on Saturday. The incident occurred during a flood evacuation process in the Jalalpur Pirwala area of Pakistan’s Punjab, which has been rocked by devastating floods.

Multan Deputy Commissioner (DC) Wasim Hamid Sindhu and City Police Officer (CPO) Sadiq Ali Dogar reached the site for an inspection and were briefed by officials present at the site, Dawn News reported. “The causes of the boat accident are being carefully examined. Initially, five deaths, including children on board the boat, have been confirmed,” DC Sindhu said in a statement.

A message from the Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA) also put the death toll at five. According to Dawn News, the rescue authorities have been ordered to immediately intensify the search operation. “Rescue operations are being carried out to search for more people on board the boat,” Sindhu said.

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Women & children onboard

Meanwhile, CPO Dogar said police teams were providing full support to Rescue 1122, and the initial reasons for the boat accident included the darkness and flooded routes. The initial report on the incident suggested that the boat had hit a tree and capsized due to the strong water flow.

The authorities noted that women and children on board were not able to maintain balance while evacuating people from floodwaters in Jalalpur Pirwala. According to Dawn News, the depth of the water was 15 to 20 feet.

The report noted that the Pakistani personnel launched search and rescue operations, and four bodies were retrieved, while the rest of the people were recovered. “Line searching and boat searching are being conducted at different places to search for one child,” the authorities noted.

Meanwhile, a statement from the department said Rescue 1122 Secretary Dr Rizwan Naseer expressed grief over the deaths and ordered the divisional emergency officer to immediately share the incident report. Multan Commissioner Aamir Karim Khan also expressed grief over the deaths and extended his condolences to the families of the deceased.

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Punjab PDMA Director General Irfan Kathia assured that the best medical assistance is being provided to the injured. “Evacuation of victims should be made safe in a flood situation. There should be no overloading in private boats or rescue boats,” he ordered.

Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz condemned the tragic incident and extended condolences to the families of the victims. Rescue 1122 said that it had rescued more than 9,000 people in flood operations from Multan alone, while over 350,000 people and above 300,000 animals had been evacuated in advance, Dawn News reported.