Pakistani family jumps into river to escape police

, Jan 13: Eight members of a family jumped into a river to avoid ending up in police custody in

's

province on Sunday, a media report said.

The people -- three women and five children -- belonged to a family of a proclaimed offender, Geo News reported. All are feared drowned.

The body of one child was recovered later, the report added.

"The women feared that the police would take them away and then use them as hostages to force the wanted criminal to surrender, so they preferred to drown than fall in the hands of the police," the report quoted a source as saying.

IANS