Agence France Presse

Karachi, July 23:

Eight relatives drowned in rough seas off a Pakistan beach early today in a family tragedy survived by a 12-year-old girl, police and rescue workers said. The Karachi family, who had come to the city’s popular Sands Pit beach for a picnic, saw three of their children drowning, prompting six male relatives to jump into the water to rescue them, said police official Mohammad Ejaz. The six males, including one teenage boy, and two of the children drowned, while life guards were able to rescue one of the children, a 12-year-old girl, from the rough waters of the Arabian Sea, Ejaz said. “The girl is in a state of shock,” said Rizwan Edhi, spokesman for the Edhi Foundation, a private health and rescue service charity. “We have fished out five dead bodies and are searching for three more.” Pals Lifeguards, another charity, said they had warned people not to swim because of high waves during the monsoon season. “People don’t take our warnings seriously and swim in rough weather,” said spokesman Mohammad Raza.