OKARA-At least seven persons died on Monday after a boat capsized in River Sutlej near Malho Sheikhuka in Okara.
According police and district administration, initially residents of the area launched a rescue operation immediately after the incident who were later joined by the Rescue 1122 personnel.
Eye-witnesses informed that seven bodies were recovered for the river.
The rescue services carried out the operation to find the missing passengers of the boat.
According to Rescue 1122, there were 25 to 30 people onboard the boat having space and capacity for only 10 to 14 people due to which the incident occurred.
The rescuers feared the toll may rise as further search was continued till filing of this report.
The police maintained that the identities of the victims were not immediately known. The officials are investigating into the matter to find out the reason behind the unfortunate incident.
In July this year, at least four people had drowned and 15 were rescued after a boat carrying around 40 passengers capsized in Tarbela Lake in the Barg Dabderi area of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa’s Haripur district.
The boat was en route to Haripur from the Dedal Kamach area of Shangla when it went down in Burg Dabderi village in the Union Council Nara Amazai.
The passengers were mostly residents of nearby villages.