Thousands stranded on KKH due to landslide

SKARDU: Thousands of tourists are stranded on the Karakoram Highway near Bhasha, an area of Upper Kohistan District, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, due to heavy land sliding.

The restoration work remained extremely slow on Tuesday while hundreds of vehicles are stuck on both sides of the highway due to the land sliding.

According to Kohistan Police, the stuck vehicles are carrying thousands of passengers, including elders, children and women who are facing tough situation in the absence of food and accommodation facilities.

According to the passengers, the work of removing the debris of the landslide at Bhasha is very slow. Heavy rocks have fallen on the Karakoram Highway due to landslides and the passengers have been stranded for two days, the passengers have demanded the FWO to expedite the work to restore the road immediately.

Meanwhile, the debris of land sliding have been removed from other places while Malopa is still close, cutting-off the land connection of the four districts of the Baltistan division with the provincial capital and the entire province with the big cities including Islamabad.

However, the heavy snowfall, lashing for four days, has stopped now, and the ground links with the upper areas have been restored.

Director General Disaster Management Authority, Gilgit-Baltistan Safdar Khan told The News that the land sliding too place at dozens of places in upper areas of all the districts of Gilgit Baltistan which was cleared in a single day.