Lahore: It has been reported that at least 20 people died, most of them women, and another 30 were missing after a boat carrying more than 100 people drowned in a river in central Pakistan on Monday, officials said.
People were set to attend a wedding ceremony on the overloaded boat when it capsized in the Indus river in the district of Sadiqabad, the government said in a statement.
Divers were pressed into service and several people were rescued by them.
All those who were sitting on the board belonged to one clan, and they were on their way to attend a family wedding across the river, it said.
“We have retrieved 20 bodies so far” and most of them were women, local government official Aslam Tasleem said. He further added that 30 people are still missing.
“We’re not sure how many people exactly were on the boat.” “We’re getting the estimates just on the basis of the family members’ accounts,” he said.
The statement said nearly 35 divers from the state-run rescue service had taken part in an operation to find and save people who were in the river.
