A Perth youngster has died in a tragic accident in Pakistan, just weeks before he was due to return to Scotland and begin school.
Zeyshan Sarrall drowned in a pond after leaving his grandfather’s home in a rural village to retrieve a ball lost the night before.
The five-year-old will be repatriated and buried in Dundee next week.
Perth’s Muslim community and many others who knew the family have been left stunned by the news.
A family member told The Courier Zeyshan’s mother Aysha had taken the boy and his brothers and sister to Pakistan two years ago to learn more about the culture.
The family had been staying in Islamabad but tragedy struck at the weekend when they visited the village of Kurla in the Dina district.
The family member said, “He was only out in Pakistan with his mother and brothers and sister for a couple of years so the kids could get a taste of the culture and Pakistani education.
“They were coming back in a couple of weeks and had gone to the village to say their farewells. He was in his granddad’s village and they were playing football or cricket the night before and the ball disappeared.
“He went to sleep thinking he would be the first to go out and get the ball in the morning. He walked out and there was a big pond that he fell into.
“He must have seen the ball floating but there was sinking mud underneath and he disappeared and that was the last they saw of him.”
Zeyshan’s cricket agent father Kashif Khalil was to fly to Pakistan to collect his family but now they will all make their way to Scotland later this week.SpecialThe family has many links in Perth both Aysha and Kashif were born and brought up there and Aysha worked at Scottish and Southern Energy.
It was expected Zeyshan would begin at Viewlands Primary School like brothers Khayyan (12) and Taimoor (8) and sister Maleeha (10) after the holidays, having completed a year in a Pakistani pre-school.
The family member said, “He was a really bright boy and his dad was his superstar he was with him everywhere he went. We don’t have the words to describe how special he was to the whole community.
“You see everyone dressed in black and white and grieving for the wee boy. It has been such a shock to everyone who’s heard about it. People who didn’t know the boy but knew the family are grieving for him as well.”
A funeral was arranged for Friday but red tape and the Friday and Monday holidays have led to further heartbreak as it has had to be pushed back to Tuesday.
The family member said because the body had to be flown to England, the coroner there has to do a post mortem before it can be released and holidays are holding everything up.
“It is the only time we’ve heard of a body being repatriated to Scotland from Pakistan when usually it is the other way around. But the boy was Scottish and his mother wanted to be close to him.
“Unfortunately, there isn’t a Muslim section in the graveyard in Perth so he will be buried in Birkhill in Dundee.”
Prayers will be said at the mosque in Dundee beforehand because the one in Perth isn’t big enough to hold the expected gathering.