Mardan father tells heartbreaking story of losing two children in Swat tragedy

A man from Mardan recounted the tragic incident at the Swat River last week, which claimed at least 12 lives — including his two children, 12-year-old Daniyal and 6-year-old Ishaal.

Naseer Ahmed told of his ordeal as he and other people around him were helpless to pull the 17 people of two families from Sialkot and Mardan from the raging water of the Swat River.

Speaking to Geo News, Ahmed said: "I called [Rescue] 1122 at 10:03am and was told that a [rescue] vehicle had been dispatched almost an hour ago. However, no one was there [near the river]."

"I ran back towards the river and looked at my children," said Ahmed and burst into tears, saying: "I could not even look at them as they were standing there in such a terrible situation."

He said that a rescue vehicle reached the site with only one rope in it. "I questioned them: what to do now? But they told me that they've nothing else with them. The vehicle left after leaving the rope there."

The bereaved father said that he kept running here and there to seek help and called Rescue 1122 several times, but he received no response from it.

He went on to say that a bigger vehicle had arrived at the scene after 30 minutes; however, it also did not bring any life-saving equipment like boats and jackets.

"I questioned them [...] Why are you here? And now, you should join me in crying and [helplessly] seeing them [drowning] like me and other people here."

"The entire people of Swat were with me at that time, but they could do nothing like me, a helpless father."

Ahmed said that he watched his children trapped between the raging water till 12pm. He added that a person from another trapped family from Sialkot was also standing with him.

He said that despite crying for help for hours, no one [from the relevant authorities] came to help them. Recalling the terrible moments, Ahmed said that all 10 people from the Sialkot family kept drowning in the water one by one.

The incident occurred on June 27 when 17 people — belonging to two different families from Sialkot and Mardan — were swept away by a sudden surge in the river while picnicking near the bank.

Harrowing videos circulated on social media showed the family stranded on a rapidly shrinking island of land, calling for help for nearly an hour with no immediate rescue in sight. So far, 12 bodies have been recovered, four were rescued, and one remains missing.