KARACHI, Aug 4: Seventeen more people died in rain-related incidents in the city on Sunday, increasing the death toll to 28 in two days, officials said.

Most victims died in incidents of wall collapse, electrocution and drowning.

Gulistan-i-Jauhar police said that a woman, her 11-year-old son and her five-year-old niece died when a wall of their PIA Housing Society residence collapsed.

They said that the embankment of a storm-water drain collapsed due to heavy rain and as a result, a torrent of water entered a house in PIA Society’s Block-9 at around 4am.

They said that the house inmates were trying to rescue their valuables when a wall of their home fell, killing Khero Abdul Samad, 35, her son Kashif and niece Asma. The woman’s brother-in-law, Liaquat Ali, 25, was injured.

The police said that the body of the minor girl was retrieved from the debris after hectic efforts by neighbours as no civic agency had turned up for rescue work.

Three feared dead as car crashes into drain

Three people were believed to have drowned when their car fell down into a storm-water drain in the Samanabad area in the small hours of Sunday.

SSP-Central Amir Farooqi told Dawn that the car driver tried to avoid garbage on the drain and turned towards the other side without knowing that it had no railing. As a result, the car fell down into the drain, which is around 10 to 15 feet deep.

He said that area people told the police that initially they heard cries for help.

Quoting witnesses’ account, the SSP said that a man, woman and a girl were travelling in the car at the time of the accident.

He said divers and other rescue teams were called in the morning, but they could not trace the bodies.

He said more efforts would be made when rainwater subsided.

Three boys among eight drown

Three boys, including two brothers, drowned while swimming in a pond filled with rainwater in the Manghopir area on Sunday.

Police said that five boys were swimming in a pond in Kunwari Colony when they drowned. Teams of police and rescue workers rushed to the spot and managed to save two of them.

The bodies of the three boys were fished out. They were identified as Sher Ali and Wakeel, both sons of Noor Khan, and Bashir Nazardin. All of them were 12 years old.

A man drowned in the Lyari river near Qayyum Shah Mazar in Surjani Town.

Police said that Muhammad Wali, 24, drowned on Saturday and the body could not be fished out till Sunday.

Surjani Town SHO Shabbir Ahmed said that the victim was coming from Gulshan-i-Maymar and tried to swim across the river.

He said that area people warned him of the danger but he ignored their warnings.

A boy drowned and another was rescued in the Landhi area, police said on Sunday.

They said that two boys drowned in a storm-water drain late on Saturday night. However, area people managed to rescue Aslam, 10, but they could not save, Aqib, 10.

Awami Colony SHO Hatim Marwat said that a search for his body was launched on Sunday and five shops located on the flow of the storm-water drain were dismantled in Landhi’s J-I area. However, the body could not be found.

A teenage boy and a girl drowned in separate incidents in Malir on Sunday.

The Malir City police said that the boy and the girl drowned in the Malir River near Magsi Goth and Thado Dam, respectively.

They were identified as Abdul Rehman and Zeenat.

A man drowned in the Malir Cantonment area, police said on Sunday.

They said that a heavy flow of rainwater swept away two men in the Saadat-i-Amroha Society on Saturday night.

Malir Cantt SHO Arshad Leghari said that the two men fell in a pond of accumulated water and area people and the police tried to rescue them.

They threw them a rope and one of the men climbed up and saved his life. However, the second man, identified as Amir Ali Shah, 45, drowned. The body was fished out later.

The police said that the victim was an estate agent by profession.

Three die from electrocution

A man was electrocuted in Johar Complex, said Sachal police on Sunday. They said that Muhammad Soomar, 48, died when he touched a live wire in his home.

A young man was electrocuted in Buffer Zone 15-B.

The victim was identified as Ashraf Habib, 24.

The Gabol Town police said that the relatives took away the body from the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital without completing medico-legal formalities.

Wali Mohammad, 26, died from electrocution in Azizabad, police said on Sunday.

They said that the victim suffered a fatal electric shock when he tried to have a dip in accumulated water.

Azizabad SHO Haseebullah Qureshi said that the area people asked him not to do so but he did not pay any heed.

He was a labourer by profession and originally hailed from Muzaffarabad.