Man, nephew drown, two rescued

HARIPUR: A man and his minor nephew drowned in the Haro River near Khanpur Dam here on Friday.

The officials of the Khanpur Police Station quoted eyewitnesses as saying that a man from Islamabad was having a picnic at the Khanpur Dam along with his two sons and a maternal nephew. Since the district administration has banned swimming in the Khanpur reservoir and its canals, the man decided to take a bath along with the children in the Haro River that usually flows with water seeping out from the Khanpur Dam and is occasionally used for flushing out surplus water from the reservoir. While bathing near Tarnava bridge, the minor boy drowned and in a bid to rescue the boy his maternal uncle jumped into the river but both drowned. Some eyewitnesses rushed for the help, but the man identified as Muhammad Hamid and his maternal nephew Muhammad Rafay, 8, could not be rescued. The local divers, however, fished out the two bodies and shifted them to Tehsil Headquarters Hospital, Khanpur.