LAHORE: A rescue operation was underway on Wednesday night after a woman and her daughter fell into an open sewer at a construction site in Bhatti Chowk. Rescue 1122 spokespersons 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 stated that the provincial government had begun construction work to expand Bhatti Chowk near Ali Hajveri Tomb, which included excavating an area for laying sewerage pipelines. Locals reported that workers had left a part of the sewer uncovered. Later, wastewater entered the site and resulted in the woman and her daughter falling into the sewer.
Last month, a seven-year-old boy in Punjab’s Bahawalpur district fell into an open manhole in Dhanote town near Lodhran city, dying shortly after. Similarly, a three-year-old child’s body was recovered from an open manhole in Karachi’s Gulshan-i-Iqbal area, over 12 hours after the incident first came to light.