Seven killed after tourist boat capsizes in Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa

Islamabad, July 2 (IANS) Seven people were killed, and one person went missing, after a tourist boat capsized on Saifullah Lake in Pakistan’s northwest Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, police have said.

The boat, carrying eight members of the same family on a sightseeing trip, overturned in the scenic Kalam area of Swat district on Wednesday, a district police officer told the media.

The bodies of the seven victims were recovered, while rescue teams, police officers and local volunteers continued searching for the missing person, reports Xinhua news agency.

Earlier on Tuesday, at least 14 children were killed, and several others were injured after a roof of a private tuition academy collapsed in Lahore’s Kahna area, local media reported, citing officials.

Confirming the death toll, Punjab province Health Minister Khawaja Imran Nazeer said “around 20 people” were trapped under the debris, including the 14 children who were brought dead to the Kahna Tehsil Headquarters (THQ) Hospital.

Following the completion of the search and rescue operation, a Rescue 1122 spokesperson, Farooq Ahmed, said that a female teacher and eight children were admitted to Lahore General Hospital (LGH) with multiple injuries. He added that five of the children were in critical condition.

“The children were very young, and there were two rooms in use. The ceilings collapsed and trapped the children,” Dawn quoted Ahmed as saying.

The Human Rights Council (HRC) of Pakistan has expressed serious concern over the tragic roof collapse. The HRC alleged that the failure to inspect the construction quality of such academies and buildings in residential areas amounts to gross negligence, which has resulted in the loss of innocent lives.

Reports suggest that roof and building collapses are a recurring problem in Pakistan, where weak safety enforcement and substandard construction materials have repeatedly contributed to such tragedies.

Earlier on Monday, two minor sisters were killed, and their cousin was injured after the boundary wall of their house collapsed in Alipur tehsil of Punjab’s Muzaffargarh district.

In a separate incident earlier this month, three members of a family died when the roof of an under-construction room collapsed in Jaranwala tehsil of Faisalabad district, Dawn reported.

–IANS

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