Man, four teens drown in Sindh river

BHOPAL: A 40-year-old man and his four nephews drowned while taking a bath in Sindh river in Bhind district on Wednesday morning. Illegal excavation by sand mafia has scooped out deep craters in the riverbed, and police believe the kids slipped into one.
The family, from Amayan village, was on its way back from a wedding when they stopped about 10km short to take a dip in the river. Bhind has been baking in 43-plus heat for several days and the river would have looked inviting.
Barish Khan and his nephews — Aamir, 18, Jasmine, 15 and twins Mehrun and Khushbu, 14 — got into the water. The teens were together and probably stepped into a pit in the riverbed. In an instant, they had disappeared under water. Barish jumped in after them but drowned too. Two other kids from the family were sitting on the riverbank. Horrified, they dialled 100 and ran to call villagers.
Locals responded quickly but couldn’t locate any of them. Police deployed divers, who pulled out the bodies and sent to the district hospital for autopsy.
The deaths enraged locals and additional police forces had to be deployed in the region to control crowds of protesters. Rampant illegal mining has changed the flow of the river, said residents. They are furious with the administration for failing to check the menace.