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At least 4 dead, 21 missing after Pakistan boat capsizes
PESHAWAR, Pakistan, July 4, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – At least four people have been
killed and 21 still missing after a boat capsized in northwest Pakistan,
officials said Thursday, with a rescue operation continuing as hopes for
finding survivors fade.
The boat was carrying passengers along the Indus River from Shangla to
Haripur district in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province on Wednesday when it
overturned.
“There were 38 people on the boat when the incident occurred and 13 people
saved their lives by swimming to the shore,” local police official Zahid
Ullah told AFP.
“We have retrieved four dead bodies from the river including two women and
children,” he said.
“The flow of the water is very fast the river is very deep which has dimmed
the chances of survival, however we will continue the rescue operation till
the last individual is found,” he added.
Senior police official Muhamamd Ali Babakhel said the accident took place
in a remote location with little communication, meaning officials did not
learn of it until well after it happened.
“People only came to know about the incident when a second boat carrying
passengers passed through the area,” he told AFP.
“The rescue operation is still going on but there are little chances of
survival,” he said.
Babakhel said the locals in the northern districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
use boats for travelling because the roads in the area are unpaved and it
saves them time.
BSS/AFP/FI/ 1214 hrs