KARACHI: A man jumped into the sea along with two young children near Do Darya on Thursday afternoon and all of them remained unaccounted for till late in the evening.

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, speaking to Dawn, 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.

He said the identity of the man and his relation with the children could not be ascertained immediately.

He said that initially, Edhi Foundation volunteers carried out a two-hour search and rescue operation but could not trace out any of the three persons. Subsequently, lifeguards and PN personnel joined in the operation but without any success. He appeared no more optimistic about rescuing them alive, saying that strong currents might have taken them far away into deep sea.

The DIG observed that Do Darya, the beach area between a graveyard and Golf Club, had become a more popular picnic spot.

Keeping in view the possibility of drowning incidents, it was decided to approach the Defence Housing Authority (DHA) for making arrangements to restrict free movement of people towards dangerous zone of thebeach by raising a wall or install a fence, he said.

SSP Mahzoor Ali had earlier said that on the police helpline, Madadgar-15, a call was received about the incident at about 3pm.

When a police team reached the spot, some eyewitnesses told them that a man wearing black shalwar kameez jumped into the sea along with two children, the police officer said.

The police were groping in the dark about the nature of the incident.

CM grieved Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah expressed his grief and sorrow over the incident. According to his spokesperson, the CM described the incident as `heart-wrenching`.

The CM has ordered the south district administration and police to conduct a thorough inquiry into the incident, said the spokesperson.

At the initial stage, the CM had called for expediting the rescue operation in an effective manner.

Mr Shah urged people to ensure precaution while visiting beach areas. He also asked them to strictly heed the directives from the authorities concerned to avoid such tragic incidents.