22 die trapped in vehicles during snowstorm in Pakistan tourist spot tragedy

Islamabad:  Pakistan’s popular tourist destination, Murree is hit by the worst human and natural catastrophe and the government has declared the hill station ‘calamity-hit’ after recording 22 deaths due to heavy snowfall.

According to the Meteorological Department of Pakistan (Met Office) this season, Murree has received record snowfall in 10 years.

Murree, located around 50 kilometres from Islamabad, is visited by thousands of tourists every year in late December and early January as the city receives snowfall during this period.

Thousands of tourists and their families from the plain areas of Punjab and Sindh and rest of the country make a beeline towards the city to enjoy the snowy season.

This year, however, it received heavy snowfall for the entire week disrupting all the efforts of the city’s civic agencies for facilitating the tourists.

As a result of the heavy traffic influx and snowfall, thousands of vehicles were stuck on roads and tourists were left stranded inside their cars.

The Met Office on January 5 issued a weather alert forecasting heavy snowfall for the next couple of days in Murree.

The alert was, however, overlooked by the public as well as the government agencies resulting in 19 deaths and inconvenience to thousands of tourists and families that spent Friday night inside their cars en route to Murree.

An Assistant Sub-Inspector (ASI) of Islamabad Police Navid Iqbal, his three daughters and a son, are among those who died inside their vehicle on Friday night while driving to the hill station.

A spokesperson of Islamabad police confirmed on Saturday the death of the ASI and his kids. Our senior officers are at the residence of the deceased to console his widow and the son, he said.

A resident of Lahore, Maroof, 31, another resident of Gujranwala Ashfaq, 31 are also among the dead, according to the rescue workers.

Prime Minister Imran Khan in a tweet expressed his heartfelt grief and condolences over the death of tourists on road to Murree.

The unprecedented snowfall & rush of ppl proceeding without checking weather conditions caught district admin unprepared, further said the prime minister.

“I have ordered an inquiry and putting in place strong regulation to ensure prevention of such tragedies,” the PM declared in his tweet.

Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed in a video message said that 21 people had so far died in Murree after their cars were stranded because of snowfall and traffic congestion.

The interior minister said tourists had flocked to the hill station in large numbers “for the first time in 15 to 20 years which created a crisis-like situation.”

The Rawalpindi and Islamabad administrations, along with police, had been working to rescue those stranded, while five platoons of the Pakistan Army as well as Rangers and Frontier Corps (FC) were called on an emergency basis.

The minister said that around 1,000 cars were stuck at the point of Kuldana and confirmed 19 deaths had occurred.

Sheikh Rashid further said that the administration had closed all routes to the hill station until Sunday evening 9pm. We are now allowing only vehicles planning to take food and blankets, he said.

I am hopeful to rescue 1,000 cars by evening today. We have also decided to stop people marching towards Murree on foot as well. It is no time for the pedestrians to visit Murree, he further said.

The Punjab government meanwhile, declared an emergency in the province and Chief Minister Usman Buzdar has sought a detailed report from Chief Secretary Inspector General (IG) Police, the Director General (DG) Rescue and the Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA) directing them to monitor the relief and the rescue operation. The civil administration has also been directed to use all resources for this purpose.