Seven teenage girls drown in Ketch River

TURBAT: In a heart-wrenching incident, at least seven young female friends lost their lives as they drowned in a river in the Turbat district of Balochistan during a recreational outing.

According to the local police, the girls’ deaths occurred while attempting to save one of their friends, who had drowned in the river. Two of the girls were rescued alive from the river, police said.

Turbat Police Station House Officer Hakeem Baloch told Urdu News that the incident took place on Sunday in Kech River, approximately 10 kilometres away from Turbat’s district headquarters.

As per the SHO, the group of nine girls, aged between 12 to 17 years and hailing from the nearby village of Kalag, went to the riverbank for a picnic after having their lunch. After the meal, the girls decided to take a dip in the river, he said.

Due to recent heavy rainfall, he said, the water level in the river had risen significantly. While bathing, one of the girls inadvertently ventured into the deeper waters and began to drown, the SHO said.

He said that in their attempt to rescue their friend, the rest of the girls also jumped into the deeper part of the river, tragically leading to all seven of them drowning.

It was reported that the girls lacked swimming skills, and there were no male relatives accompanying them at the time of the incident.

Consequently, seven of them lost their lives, and their bodies were later retrieved from the water.

However, two girls were saved by locals who were passing by the area.

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Officials said that the rescued girls were provided medical assistance at the Government Teaching Hospital in Turbat before being sent back home.

They said that the surviving girls were understandably devastated by the loss of their seven friends, making it difficult to gather further details about the incident.

Nonetheless, authorities have initiated an investigation into the tragedy.

The police have identified the deceased girls as 13-year-old Shireen, 14-year-old Mahtab, 14-year-old Bushra, 15-year-old Faiza, 15-year-old Durdana, 16-year-old Fiza, and 16-year-old Mahe Zeb.

They were all from the same village and were mostly close relatives.

A local resident, Khalid, said that the girls attended different schools but were inseparable whenever they stepped out of their homes, as they shared a deep bond of friendship.

It was on Sunday, during their school vacation, that they planned the ill-fated picnic, he said.