Search on in northwest Pakistan for four who went missing while bathing in canal, boating

Rescue workers search for the victims drowned in the waters of Tanda Dam after a boat carrying students capsized in Kohat district of northern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province on January 29, 2023. (AFP/File)
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Updated 12 April 2024
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Search on in northwest Pakistan for four who went missing while bathing in canal, boating

  • A boat capsized in Kund Park in the Nowshera district on Thursday and seven people submerged as a result of it
  • In another incident in Charsadda, six people went under water while bathing in Khayali canal, three were rescued

ISLAMABAD: A search operation was underway for four people who went missing while boating and bathing at recreational spots in different districts of Pakistan ‘s northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province, the Rescue 1122 service said on Friday.

A boat capsized in Kund Park in the Nowshera district on Thursday and seven people submerged as a result of it. Of them, six were rescued, according to Rescue 1122.

In another incident in Charsadda, six people went under water while bathing in Khayali canal and the rescuers three of them. Three were still missing.

“An operation by Rescue 1122 is ongoing in search of the four missing persons,” a Rescue 1122 spokesperson said in a statement on Friday. “One person in Kund and three in Charsadda are missing.”

The incidents occurred as a large number of people visited recreational spots on the second day of Eid Al-Fitr festival, which marks the end of the holy fasting month of Ramadan.

Muslims around the world offer special prayers on Eid morning, spend time with loved ones, organize lavish meals and go for recreational activities during the three-day religious festival.

The Rescue 1122 spokesperson said teams of divers had already been deployed at picnic and recreational spots on account of Eid.

“Rescue 1122 diving teams have rubber boats and all other equipment,” the spokesperson added.


Pakistani students stuck in Afghanistan permitted to go home

Updated 12 January 2026
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Pakistani students stuck in Afghanistan permitted to go home

  • The border between the countries has been shut since Oct. 12
  • Worries remain for students about return after the winter break

JALALABAD: After three months, some Pakistani university students who were stuck in Afghanistan due to deadly clashes between the neighboring countries were “permitted to go back home,” Afghan border police said Monday.

“The students from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (northwest Pakistan) who were stuck on this side of the border, only they were permitted to cross and go to their homes,” said Abdullah Farooqi, Afghan border police spokesman.

The border has “not reopened” for other people, he said.

The land border has been shut since October 12, leaving many people with no affordable option of making it home.

“I am happy with the steps the Afghan government has taken to open the road for us, so that my friends and I will be able to return to our homes” during the winter break, Anees Afridi, a Pakistani medical student in eastern Afghanistan’s Nangarhar province, told AFP.

However, worries remain for the hundreds of students about returning to Afghanistan after the break ends.

“If the road is still closed from that side (Pakistan), we will be forced to return to Afghanistan for our studies by air.”

Flights are prohibitively expensive for most, and smuggling routes also come at great risk.

Anees hopes that by the time they return for their studies “the road will be open on both sides through talks between the two governments.”