MUZAFFARABAD, July 4: Two young boys drowned in River Jhelum here on Wednesday, taking the toll in swimming-related incidents to eight in the last three weeks.

Najam, son of Ejaz, and Hammad, son of Altaf were taking a bath amid sweltering heat at Domel – the confluence of Jhelum and Neelum rivers – when a violent current swept them away. The body of one of them was fished out near Thoori but that of the other could not be retrieved till the filing of this report.

On Tuesday afternoon, two cousins who were later identified as Javeria and Naseem and their uncle Shafqat also drowned in Chehla Bandi area while they were filling water from a spring along the river. The body of Javeria was later found but the other two were still missing.

Earlier, two tourists from Karachi became a prey to the angry river as they were taking bath in it to beat the heat.

Deputy Commissioner Zafar Mahmood told Dawn that at least eight people had lost their lives being drowned in less than a month period.

He claimed the administration had imposed section 144 on bathing in the rivers and strict instructions had been issued for implementation.

However, people living along the riverbanks alleged they had not seen any such restrictions imposed on ground by the law enforcement personnel.