MUZAFFARABAD: A woman reportedly ended her life by jumping into Jhelum River near here on Sunday afternoon.

Her body had not been recovered by evening despite extensive efforts by the State Disaster Management Authority’s (SDMA) water rescue team.

According to Mohammad Mushtaq, an official at the Jalalabad police post, 20-year-old Faiza Bibi, wife of Imran Awan, a resident of Dabban Batanga’n village, jumped into the river from an old bridge near the Langarpura housing society along the Jhelum Valley Road at approximately 3pm.

The immediate cause of her apparent suicide remains unknown, Mr Mushtaq said, adding that her husband was reportedly away from home, working to earn a livelihood, when she left the house and took this drastic step.

Ghulam Mohammad Azad, in charge of the SDMA’s water rescue team, toldDawnthat five divers made multiple attempts to locate her body or any trace of her attire after the team was alerted to the incident, but their search did not yield any results by evening.

The water rescue team is stationed in the Domel area, approximately 7-8km downstream from where the woman plunged into the river.

According to Mr Azad, when people fall into the water and are alive, they tend to float near the surface, occasionally bobbing up and down.

However, after death, the body often sinks to the riverbed and typically resurfaces after about three days due to natural decomposition processes.

He said the search operation would resume in the early hours of Monday.

Published in Dawn, November 4th, 2024