HYDERABAD:A boat ferrying the rain affected people from one bank of the Indus river, which is under high flood, to the other embankment capsized with 25 people near Sehwan, Jamshoro district, on Monday.
According to Deputy Commissioner Jamshoro Capt (r) Farid-ud-din Mustafa, 12 bodies were recovered by the evening by the Pakistan Navy officials and local fishermen, while 8 persons managed to survive the fatal incident.
He informed that the search for the missing bodies would continue until they were recovered.
The Chief Minister Sindh Syed Murad Ali Shah, who was also in Jamshoro on Monday, directed the top officers of Hyderabad division to personally head the rescue operation after which the Commissioner Hyderabad and DC Jamshoro reached the spot.
Muhammad Rahupoto, who claimed that his relatives were also in the boat, told the media that the boat was ferrying people from village Bilawalpur to Talti while crossing the river.
Rahupoto decried the alleged burdening of the boat, which according to him was carrying people beyond its capacity.
All the 8 survivors were shifted to Syed Abdullah Shah Medical Institute Sehwan.
A doctor of the hospital informed that some of the survivors were in critical condition.
The deceased include 6 women, 3 children and as many men.
They have been identified as 45 years old Wakeelan Khokhar, 45 years old Mehnaz Noonari, 40 years old Sughra Umrani, 20 years old Farooq Khokhar, 15 years old Nasir Noonari, 8 years old Rehan Khokhar, 5 years old Shahzore Noonari, Zubeda Shahmer Noonari, Iqra Umrani, Reshma Khokhar and Sameena Khokhar.
The dead bodies were also shifted to the Institute in Sehwan.