KHAIRPUR, Jan 9: Three school students drowned in an open manhole in Osta Gahi Mohalla, one of the most thickly populated areas of the city, on Sunday.

The bodies of the students of the Government Naz Pilot Higher Secondary School were found after hours of struggle.

The deceased were identified as Abdul Karim, son of Abdul Saleem Memon, student of sixth class; Abdul Rasheed, son of Abdul Hameed Memon, student of seventh class and cousin of Karim; and Mohammad Ashfaq, son of Mohammad Ismail Soomro, student of ninth class.

Karim fell in the manhole first and Hameed went down to save him but he also drowned. Later, Ashfaq went down to save his two friends but he also died in the drain.

Two residents of the locality, Mohammad Yasin Brohi and Gul Mohammad Soomro, went down to rescue the boys but fell unconscious due to suffocation. They have been admitted to the Civil Hospital.

Residents of the area staged a protest demonstration on the National Highway and demanded registration of case against the municipal officials responsible for the incident.

They said that earlier many persons had died and got injured by slipping into open manholes and attention of the taluka municipal authorities had been repeatedly drawn to the issue but to no avail.

District Nazim Nafisa Shah, People's Party Parliamentarians MPA Nawab Wassan and Pakistan Muslim League (Functional) leader Zafar Iqbal Bilal separately visited the area and condemned the incident.

Talking to reporters, the nazim said that the incident was a result of inefficiency of the taluka municipal administration as the residents had been complaining to her about the open manhole and she had repeatedly directed the officials concerned to cover it but in vain. She pointed out that manholes of sewerage system as well the PTCL were lying open on the busy Mall, Kutchery and Khaki Shah Pul roads.

SNF: Activists of the Sindh National Front, on the second day of their protest against the Kalabagh dam and other such projects, held a demonstration outside the press club here on Sunday. Speaking to the protesters, their leaders said that in the River Indus, there was no water to speak of, yet the government was bent upon building dams.