MUZAFFARABAD: The body of a young boy, who had drowned across the Line of Control (LoC) a few days ago, was spotted and recovered on this side of the divide on Monday and will be handed over to Indian authorities on Tuesday, officials said.

Zamin Shaikh, 14, son of Ghulam Rasool Shaikh, had drowned in River Poonch in his Suran Kot village reportedly on the day of Eidul Fitr.

On Monday, some villagers fished out his body from Donga cross area of Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) at about 2:45pm and informed the local police about it who shifted the body to Tehsil Headquarters (THQ) Hospital in the nearby town of Hajira.

`Since no one on this side of the divide was reported to have been drowned in the recent past, villagers as well as police were convinced that it would have flown from the occupied territory,` Superintendent of Police Syed Waheed Gillani told Dawn by telephone.

He said some social media posts also confirmed that the boy belonged to Suran Kot village in occupied Kashmir and had gone missing since May 3. SP Gillani said the villagers washed and shrouded the body and offered its funerals at 6pm.

It was then taken by two police officers, who were accompanied by over 100 villagers, to the non-operational Tetrinote-Chakan da Bagh crossing point to be handed over to the Indian authorities, he said.

However, the Indian authorities declined to accept the body `immediately` and said they would receive it at about 11am on Tuesday, SP Gillani said. He said the body had been brought back to the THQ Hospital`s mortuary.