THATTA: Four persons, two of them children aged six and eight years, were feared drowned when a boat carrying labourers and their families capsized in the sea near Qadir Doni Shah fields in Shah Bandar taluka on Friday morning.

Survivors told local journalists that there were a total of 21 persons, including women and children, besides the boatman, on board when the boat capsized due to high-velocity winds sweeping through the province for a couple of days. They said some divers from the nearby fields rushed to the rescue of the drowning people after receiving the distress calls made through mobile phones. `They managed to rescue 16 of us but four persons remained unaccounted for until they had to stop a search due to strong winds,` said the survivors.

They identified the missing individuals as Mohammed Qasim, son of Abu Bakar Sahero and his close relative Sikandar, 6, son of Hasan Sahero residents of Moledino Sahero village and Mohammed Ramzan, son of Noor Mohammed Wangaee and his eight-year-old daughter, Hajiani residents of Haji Kamdaar Wangaee village.

The labourers are farm workers who, along with their families, had set out to Qadir Doni Shah fields a far-flung area where Indus River drops into the Arabian Sea for work.

Villagers living near the fields told Dawn over phone that Sujawal district administration and mukhtiarkar were promptly informed of the incident but they could only send rescuers and a couple of ambulances eight hours later.