HARIPUR: Police arrested two boatmen for allegedly violating the safety rules for passengers travelling in the Tarbela Lake here on Tuesday.

They said that deputy commissioner Mohammad Fawad had received a complaint on the citizen`s portal that the boatmen who transported passengers and picnickers to and from different points on the sides of Tarbela Lake were not observing the safety rules, which could endanger lives of the people.

Mr Fawad sent his team along with police to Afghan camp No 15 that was being used by the boatmen as pick-and-drop point for passengers. The team found the passengersof two boats without safety jackets and arrested two boatmen later identified as Yaqub and Ilyas on charges of exposing passengers to extreme danger.

Area people told mediapersons that despite repeated requests the boatmen of Tarbela Lake appeared to be least bothered about the safety of passengers.

On July3, 2019, a Haripur-bound boat carrying 38 passengers from Torghar and different other areas had capsised in the lake.

Later, bodies of four minor children floating on the water surface were recovered thesameday while bodies of 18 people were still untraced.

Afterwards, the district administrationhas been asking the boatmen to ensure before start of the journey that their boats were mechanically fit and not overloaded and that all the passengers were wearing life jackets. However, it has been observed that the boatmenhardlyobserve thesafetymeasures.

GIRL COMMITS SUICIDE: A teenage girl has allegedly committed suicide in a village of Beer union council.

Beer police said Sawera Bibi, 18, was found unconscious in her bedroom and taken to the trauma centre, but she did not survive. According to hospital sources, the preliminary examination showed that the girl had consumed some poisonous substance. Correspondent