The military announced Tuesday that 51 people had died as a result of a boating tragedy that occurred over the weekend in a lake in northwest Pakistan.
The lads, who ranged in age from seven to fourteen, were all madrassa students who had been taken on Sunday for a day trip to the lovely Tanda Dam lake.
“The rescue effort was hampered by the severe weather, which caused the water in the dam to freeze.” However, today’s diving conditions allowed the divers to recover the last of the bodies, according to a senior officer with Rescue 1122 named Khateer Ahmad.
He continued, adding that the bodies of a teacher and a captain had also been recovered from the ocean, bringing the total death toll to 51.
A large number of parents and relatives have arrived during the last several days, according to Muhammad Umar, who sells tea at a picnic area overlooking the well-known weekend tourist spot.
“They would rush onto the diver every time a body was pulled from the area to see whether it was their kid, and every time we would hear them crying in grief and anguish,” he said on the phone with AFP on Tuesday.
“I have never seen such scenes in my life; there are no words to describe them.”
The madrassa, an Islamic school in Kohat, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, which provides free religious instruction, is five kilometres (three miles) away.
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Following the conclusion of the rescue effort on Tuesday, police spokesperson Fazal Naeem announced the revised death toll. The military’s media wing verified it.
According to Naeem, the boat was overloaded; it could hold about 20 to 25 people.
He continued: “Five individuals, including four kids and one instructor, were saved.”
The Pakistani army posted pictures of divers traversing the lake in rubber dinghies and diving into the emerald waters to retrieve children’s bodies.
Muhammad Mustafa, 11, a survivor, stated to AFP on Sunday from his hospital bed, “I got stuck under the boat.”
I removed my sweatshirt and shawl since they were making me feel heavy.
“The water was so icy that my body started to tingle.” “When a man on an inflatable tube saved me from passing out, I truly believed it.”
In Pakistan, drownings frequently occur when old and overloaded vessels lose stability and toss passengers into the water.
On the same day, a bus collision into a ravine in southwest Balochistan province left at least 41 people dead.
In July of last year, during a wedding procession between two villages, a boat carrying over 100 members of the same family overturned, resulting in at least 18 women drowning.
