Woman, daughter fall into open sewerage line in Lahore; rescue operation underway

LAHORE: A rescue operation was underway on Wednesday night after a woman and her daughter fell into an open sewerage line at a construction site in Bhatti Chowk.

A Rescue 1122 spokesperson said that teams were dispatched immediately and launched a vigorous search operation. However, officials had yet to find any trace of the woman and her child.

“The woman’s husband is at the scene and has confirmed that she fell into the sewerage line,” the spokesperson told Dawn. “The operation is ongoing and Rescue 1122 will continue searching until the bodies are recovered,” he said.

Meanwhile, a police official said that the provincial government had begun construction work to expand Bhatti Chowk near Ali Hajveri Tomb, and the incident took place in an area dug up to lay sewerage pipelines.

Citing locals, he said that workers had left a part of the sewer uncovered. Later, the wastewater entered the site, and the woman and her daughter fell into the sewer, he said.

Last month, a seven-year-old boy in Punjab’s Bahawalpur district fell into an open manhole in Dhanote town near Lodhran city and died.

The same month, a three-year-old boy’s body was recovered from an open manhole in Karachi’s Gulshan-i-Iqbal area, more than 12 hours after the incident was first reported.