SADIQABAD: In a heart-wrenching incident, a mother allegedly attempted suicide by jumping into a canal along with her four children in Sadiqabad on Thursday, ARY News reported.
Upon receiving the report, rescue teams rushed to the scene and launched an operation. Divers have retrieved the bodies of two of the children, identified as two-year-old Ayan and four-year-old Tayyaba.
Rescue officials stated that the search for the remaining two children—identified as ten-year-old Ali Hassan and four-year-old Rehan—has been ongoing for eight hours. At least 20 divers are currently participating in the search operation.
Fortunately, the mother was rescued alive, officials confirmed.
The exact motive behind the woman’s extreme step remains unknown. However, rising inflation and marital discord have been cited as the primary drivers behind similar suicide cases previously reported across the country.
Earlier, last year, a man jumped into the sea along with his two young children near Do Darya in Karachi and all of them died.
Police and rescue services carried out a hectic search & rescue operation immediately after receiving the information. Pakistan Navy personnel also joined in but the operation had to be put off for the day as darkness fell.
South-SSP Mahzoor Ali, quoted some eyewitnesses as telling the area police that they saw a man aged around 40, along with a girl and a boy aged seven/eight, passing by a seaside high rise and then jumping into the sea.
South-DIG Syed Asad Raza quoted one of the eyewitnesses, Junaid Ahmed, as saying that the man aged about 35-40, accompanied by the two children, was seen running towards heavy stones along the beach uttering words ‘pani, pani (water, water)’ before jumping into the sea along with the two children.
The body of the man and his two minor children were recovered on Saturday, police and rescue officials said.
The bodies of the two minor children — Ahmed and Ayat — were found at Seaview on Friday morning.
South DIG Syed Asad Raza apprised that the children’s maternal uncle Rameez Husain in a written statement told the police that his brother-in-law Alam and his sister along with their children had appeared before a court on July 31 over a petition (No 3290/2024) for custody of the children. He claimed that the custody issue was ‘amicably’ settled between the couple.
Later, Alam, along with his wife and children, went to the food street at Burns Road for a lunch. Subsequently, he left the restaurant, saying he needed to go to the toilet. He took his children with him and did not return.
Mr Rameez said they had immediately informed the Madadgar-15 about that and also submitted an application before the Aram Bagh police to this effect.