Bahawalnagar:
At least nine people died when a rescue boat capsized during rescue efforts in southern Punjab, the authorities announced on Friday, while the worst flood of the Sutlej river in 40 years continued to devastate large areas, submerging hundred villages and moving more than 150,000 people.
According to the Punjab Disaster Management Authority (PDMA), the accident occurred Thursday in a village near Multan. The press release indicates that the boat had rescued 24 people in flooded villages when it overturned, with 15 survivors later drawn from the water.
The local authorities of Minchinabad Tehsil said that a 2222 rescue boat, transporting 22 people, including the staff, capsized near Mamoonka Basti. They said that the dead included two young men, Adnan and Khizar, who were swept away by powerful currents; Their bodies were recovered a day later.
The officials confirmed that the boat, with a maximum capacity of 15, was overloaded after the passengers forced their path on board despite repeated warnings, carrying plastic containers filled with 400 liters of milk. He capsized just 15-20 meters from the shore.
Additional tragedies have been reported to Chishtian, where Muhammad Hussain, 38, and Muhammad Asad, 12, have drowned in separate incidents. The two bodies were then recovered by 1122 rescue teams.
Rescue officials said that the evacuations remain difficult, because many villagers refuse to leave without their cattle – cows, goats and other animals with their livelihoods – often obliging the authorities to make reluctant moves.
“Rescue work in the region is difficult because people do not cooperate,” noted the PDMA. The magnitude of the floods was catastrophic, triggered by intense monsoon rains and swollen rivers, added the managers.
The deluge flooded a 154 -kilometer section from Sutlej in Bahawalnagar alone, overwhelming nearly 400 colonies. The district authorities estimate that around 150,000 people have been homeless in the region.
In Punjab, officials said that more than 4,500 villages have been overwhelmed since the end of August, which concerns more than 4.4 million people. Until now, at least 2.4 million have been evacuated. Since the end of June, the floods have killed 946 people on a national scale and destroyed large expanses of cultures.
Local residents have accused the authorities of not taking preventive measures, leaving thousands of people exposed to a disaster. The survivors remain under the open sky, awaiting an urgent relief and the attention of the government while the flood of Sutlej is increasingly taking the form of a humanitarian crisis.
(With reuters entrance)
