Baramulla, April 01: In a tragic incident, a 14-year-old girl lost her life after slipping into an irrigation canal in the Perniya area of north Kashmir’s Baramulla district on Saturday.
Police identified the victim as Rukaya Bashir, a 10th-class student of Syed Sakhi Nowshera High School. Locals said that Rukaya, daughter of Bashir Ahmad Ganaie, a resident of Nowpora Kreeri, was residing at her maternal house in Perniya.
According to a police official, Rukaya was waiting for her school bus along the Lower Jhelum Hydel Power Project canal when she slipped and fell into the canal.
A rescue operation was immediately started and her body was retrieved almost a kilometre away from the point where she had drowned.
The teams of SDRF, police and Baramulla administration were pressed into action to locate the girl.
The body was handed over to the legal heirs after completing the necessary legal and medical formalities. The incident has sent shockwaves with locals asking the authorities to fence the canal as it has become a hotspot of tourists visiting from several parts of the valley.
“The area from Gantamulla to Reservoir is prone to these tragic accidents. Although fencing has been erected at many locations, the work is going very slowly they need to complete the fencing of the canal as soon as possible,” said a local Bilal Ahmad.
Locals said that the concerned authorities need to implement improved safety measures along the canals and complete the fencing to prevent any further accidents.
