Landslide block KKH, again

MANSEHRA: The strategically important Karakoram Highway (KKH) has been blocked for traffic owing to landslide in Chuching area near Dassu in Kohistan on Thursday morning.

“We will start removing heavy boulders at KKH in Chuching area tomorrow if the landslide stopped,” Fazle Khaliq, the deputy commissioner Kohistan, told reporters.

“The personnel of Frontier Works Organisation (FWO) and district administration had reopened the road up to Khial area. However, it was blocked again between Khial and Chuching in the jurisdiction of Dassu Union Council owing to landslide,” he added.

A helicopter loaded with relief items and food had reached Pattan to fly to Thor Nullah area of Kandia tehsil, but it could not proceed to the affected area due to bad weather. However, he said rescue work was going on to recover 23 people who were buried under the rubble in Thor Nullah area.

“Though more and more volunteers have been joining rescue work in Thor Nullah to recover 23 people including 13 women, no headway is there in recovery of buried people as tonnes of mud had fallen on houses,” said the deputy commissioner.

A 60 members group of volunteers had also left Dassu for affected village to take part in the rescue activities, he added.

“We cannot declare 23 buried people as dead at this stage as four people have already been rescued alive,” he added. He also feared that the continued landslide could also block the Indus river.