Bodies of three more family members who drowned in flash flood retrieved

After hectic efforts of two days, rescue workers on Friday were able to retrieve the bodies of the ill-fated man and two of his sons who drowned on Wednesday when their car was swept away by flash floods in the Malir River.

There were seven persons in the car, including the driver and a family comprising a couple and their four children. The bodies of two of the drowned children were earlier retrieved on Thursday, and the search operation for two more bodies is going on.

“A total of five bodies have so far been recovered while the search for two more remains under way,” District Malir SSP Irfan Bahadur told The News. “The ill-fated father and four of his children were those whose bodies have so far been recovered while the body of his wife and the driver are yet to be recovered.”

The officer explained that the bodies of two minor siblings – 10-year-old Moosa and his younger sister, Amna, 7 — were recovered on Thursday, whereas, the bodies of Zeeshan Ansari, the head of the family, and two of his children Ibadur Rehman and Ayan were recovered on Friday, and the search for Zeeshan’s wife Rabia and the driver, Abdur Rehman is under way.

The tragic incident occurred on Wednesday night, when a car sank into the Malir River on Karachi Highway Link Road, in which six members of the same family and a driver were travelling from Karachi to Hyderabad.

The family was returning to Hyderabad after attending a wedding ceremony in Karachi’s Quaidabad area when the car submerged in floodwater while trying to pass Link Road.

The vehicle was found a day later on Thursday. The Pakistan Navy, Edhi Foundation volunteers, local police and personnel from the Sindh police’s Special Security Unit would resume the search operation on Saturday (today) morning after it was halted on Friday night due to darkness.

Explaining the incident, the SHO said that floods usually occurred in the Malir River during heavy rains and some locals had gathered there in order to warn and stop commuters from using Link Road.

The officer said the car was intercepted by those locals and the driver was warned about the flash flood and even the family members were also insisting on not using Link Road but the driver chose to do so and the tragedy occurred. SSP Bahadur said the relatives of the victims were in touch with the police and the retrieved bodies had been sent to Hyderabad for burial.