KOHAT: Two children and a young man drowned while swimming in the Naryab Dam in Doaba area of Hangu district on Friday despite a ban on bathing and boating in water reservoirs.

In a statement, Rescue 1122 said that as soon as they learned about the incident an emergency team was rushed to the spot, which launched efforts for the recovery of the bodies.

It said that after an hours-long struggle, the rescuers retrieved the bodies identified as that Yayha, 12, Hamza, 13, and Hakeem, 36, belonging to the nearby Channi Banda village.

The statement said that the deceased had gone to the dam to beat the heat due to the long hours of electricity loadshedding.

The bodies were handed over to relatives.

Meanwhile, Hangu deputy commissioner Fazal Akbar ordered an inquiry into the drowning incident to fix the responsibility.

He called an emergency meeting of the irrigation department, Rescue 1122 officials and Doaba assistant commissioner Nawab Khan at his office. The meeting was informed that there were no officials present at the dam to prevent the people from swimming.

It may be recalled that after the drowning of 58 seminary children when a boat capsized in Tanda Dam Lake, Kohat, the provincial government had ordered the administrations and the irrigation department to deploy Rescue 1122 teams, divers, and ambulances at all the dams.

It merits a mention here that despite the registration of cases against the officials of the district administration and the irrigation department after the Tanda Dam tragedy on January 30, all of them had since been on bail.

Published in Dawn, July 15th, 2023