Mother jumps into Jhelum to find teenage son who drowned in Bandipora

July 4, 2025 by News Desk

Meer Irfan

A 13-year-old boy drowned while bathing in the river Jhelum in the Hajin area of north Kashmir’s Bandipora district on Friday afternoon, sparking emotional scenes as his mother jumped into the river in a desperate attempt to find him.

The boy has been identified as Shahid Ahmad, son of Tariq Wani, a resident of Baharabad locality of Hajin. Witnesses said Shahid had gone to the river with friends to bathe and slipped into deeper waters. He was quickly swept away by the current.

Eyewitnesses told The Kashmiriyat that as rescue operations were underway and hundreds of people stood helplessly on the banks, the boy’s mother, overcome with grief, leapt into the river to search for her son. She was soon rescued by the teams on the spot.

“She couldn’t take it anymore. She kept screaming his name and then suddenly jumped into the water,” said a local man who was present during the incident. “That’s a mother’s love — it can’t watch her child drown, even if she has nothing but hope to hold on to.”

Rescue operations to locate Shahid continued into the evening. Locals and officials remained at the site, assisting in the search.