At least 12 dead as loader rickshaw carrying wedding procession falls into canal in Kot Addu.

Twelve people, including six minors, were confirmed dead after a loader rickshaw carrying 24 passengers fell into the Muzaffargarh Canal on Monday night. The incident occurred while the vehicle was returning from a wedding ceremony in a nearby village. Three rickshaws, part of a wedding procession, were travelling from Lomar Wala to Basti Arain in Kot Addu district when one lost control due to overspeeding. It plunged into the canal close to Sheikho Sugar Mills in Sanawan. Rescue 1122 was alerted after three passengers climbed out of the canal on their own. Local residents and Rescue 1122 then extracted six survivors and recovered three bodies. By Tuesday, an additional nine bodies were retrieved, raising the death toll to 12. Kot Addu Rescue in‑charge Osama Zeeshan explained to Dawn that the operation was still underway to recover the remaining persons. Eight divers and 22 swimmers from Kot Addu and Muzaffargarh districts were involved. Bodies had been found at distances of 5, 7, 15 and 20 kilometres from the incident site, and rescuers searched a 32‑kilometre stretch of the canal. The canal is 12‑15 feet deep, 100‑120 feet wide, and carries a water flow between 2,500 and 4,000 cusecs, irrigating 800,000 acres in the Kot Addu and Muzaffargarh areas. Earlier this year, a separate incident involving a bus carrying a wedding procession overturned in Punjab’s Lodhran district, killing at least four people and injuring 28.