Srinagar, May 20: A Biscoe boy drowned in Jhelum Friday afternoon when he failed to continue swimming in the river near Lal Mandi Footbridge.
 Muhammad Shakir Bhat, a 10th class student from Tyndale Biscoe School dived into the Jehlum along with his friend Sheikh Salman at around 1:00 PM after leaving the school, his friends who were watching them swimming from the bridge told Greater Kashmir.
  “Shakir was a tank swimmer who might have lost stamina as it was his first time swimming in the river,” they said.
 According to them his colleague Salman, who crossed some 100 meter stretch successfully, was a Dal Crosser, while Shakir was trained in the 50 meters pool swimming.
 “Sakir lost his life because he had no experience of swimming in rivers”, said his classmate.
 A businessman Ajaz Ahmad tried to rescue the teenager after he saw him struggling. “I regret that I couldn’t save him, I jumped but my legs got stuck, I tried,” he said.
 The team from the Raj Bagh police station reached the spot immediately.
 “But due to absence of river police and the rescue team they were watching as mute spectators,” said an eyewitness.
 “I approached the river police team immediately but they had to come from the Nehru Park and this delayed the process by an hour”, said SDPO Sadder Police Station Shabir Ahmad.
 As the body of Shakir was not fished out from the river till evening, his relatives were wailing and weeping on the banks of the Jehlum.
 Later the rescue operation was shelved till morning, official said.
 Meanwhile, Divisional Commissioner Dr Asgar Hassan Samoon has requisioned for help from Navy divers.

Lastupdate on : Fri, 20 May 2011 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Fri, 20 May 2011 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Sat, 21 May 2011 00:00:00 IST