KARACHI, April 24 Two boys, aged between 10 and 12 years, drowned in the Lyari river near Agra Taj Colony on Saturday afternoon, witnesses and charity volunteers said.

Though the police, town administration and rescue service of the city district government initially remained unaware of the incident, the volunteers of the charity service took more than an hour to fish out the body of one of the victims, identified as Ejaz, son of Riaz.

“Ejaz was around 10 years old,” said a spokesman for the Chhipa Welfare Organisation. “The search for the other boy is still on, but since we do not have the required resources, it may take time to find the boy while the approaching sunset poses another challenge.”

The witnesses said the two boys drowned in the river while playing near its bank and the other children realised that they were drowning when they heard screams for help. The police and the municipal service department that regulates the fire and rescue team of the city district government remained unaware until the news of the incident was flashed on television channels.

“The search for the two children was initiated at around 5pm and it lasted beyond 6pm when the body of Ejaz was retrieved by the divers,” said the Chhipa spokesman. “Initially two divers were assigned the job. They were later joined by three others. Since the river is highly polluted, the search for the victims was an uphill task without any equipment or swimming apparatus.”

Hundreds of people had gathered on the bank of the river along the Lyari Expressway and many tried to help the Chhipa volunteers in their efforts.

Area people said the fresh drowning of children was nothing new as such incidents kept happening with no measure from the authorities concerned to prevent them from recurring.

A senior official, however, defended the city government's initial inaction, pleading that no call was made to their emergency centre for help.

“Under a standard operating procedure, our team moves after a call for help at any of the two dedicated numbers (16 and 113),” said Muhammad Masood Alam, the EDO for municipal services.

“In that particular case, we only came to know through television channels about the incident, and our team rushed to the site. Unfortunately, the charity organisation that was called for help did not bother to inform the authorities concerned, including the area police.” He said the department had all the necessary expertise and resources.

“And in some cases we can even seek the services of Pakistan Navy,” said Mr Alam. “So it's a wrong impression that the city government never bothered to move or has no expertise to overcome such challenges. In that particular case, there was a mistake on the part of people around the incident site or those who handled that on their own.”

As darkness fell after the sun went down, efforts for the search of the other boy grew more difficult.

Following the search of one of the boys and shifting of the body to the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital, a team of the city district government's fire and rescue department joined the volunteers.

“We are arranging lights and bringing some machinery to expedite the process but chances of his survival are slim,” said an official at the fire department.