Search for bodies of two border guards who drowned while rescuing a schoolboy in Rushan district of Gorno Badakhshan Autonomous Region (GBAO) is ongoing.  

The search operation has been carried out since September 30 and residents of border area of Afghanistan’s Badakhshan Province have been helping Tajik rescuers in search for the bodies, Ms. Umeda Yusufi, a spokeswoman for the Emergencies Committee under the Government of Tajikistan, to Asia-Plus in an interview.

According to her, Tajik emergency authorities have applied to Afghan rescue service for help.  

The tragedy took place on September 30.  Private soldiers Sirojiddin Yatimov and Qandiljon Vohidow reportedly drowned while trying to rescue a 10th grade student from Vamar, the administrative center of Rushan district, who wanted to commit suicide.

As a result of the search operation, the body of the teen was found, while search for bodies of the soldiers is still ongoing.   

Meanwhile, Saidahmad Yatimov, the father of Sirojiddin Yatimov, has told Radio Liberty’s Tajik Service, known locally as Radio Ozodi, that relatives are concerned about the circumstances of the tragedy.  “We learned that on that unfortunate day there were three soldiers and one survived.  We talked to him.  He gets confused in his testimony.  We don't know what really happened that day,” Saidahmad Yatimov told Radio Ozodi.  

A sister of one of the soldiers, who wanted to remain unnamed, told Asia-Plus that some acquaintances had told their family that they had allegedly seen her brother and another soldier in Afghan territory alive.  “We don't know where the truth is.  We want them would be found alive or their bodies would be found so that we would know the truth,” she said.