Girl falls into open drain in Karachi's Baldia

KARACHI: Another NIPA manhole like tragedy was averted by locals in Karachi’s Baldia Town area after a young girl fell into an open drain, ARY News reported on Thursday.

As per details, a young girl fell into the drain in Baldia Town’s Sector 12-D on Wednesday. Local residents, acting through their community support, immediately rescued the girl from the sewer.

The outraged residents said that accidents are common in the area due to open manholes. They also highlighted that the roads and sewage system in the locality are in a state of disrepair.

Meanwhile, UC-11 Councillor, Ashfaq Ansari, stated that funds have been received and development work is progressing rapidly. He added that the sewage system is being repaired and manhole covers are being installed to prevent future accidents.

In a heart-wrenching incident that has ignited widespread fury across Pakistan’s largest city, three-year-old Ibrahim Nabil’s lifeless body was recovered from a sewage drain nearly 15 hours after he slipped into an uncovered manhole near NIPA Chowrangi in Gulshan-e-Iqbal.

The tragedy unfolded around 10 p.m. on Sunday when Ibrahim, the only child of his parents Nabeel and his wife, accompanied the family for a routine shopping trip at the Chase Up departmental store adjacent to the NIPA flyover.

As the family exited the store, Nabeel paused to unlock his parked motorcycle in the bustling parking area.

In a fleeting moment of distraction, the curious toddler slipped from his father’s grasp, darted ahead between the vehicles, and plummeted into a 2×2-foot open manhole—three feet deep and part of the city’s main 36-inch drainage line repurposed for sewage.

Eyewitnesses described the manhole as a gaping hazard, its cover missing for several days, with no protective barriers in sight despite its location in front of a high-traffic commercial hub.