Three die as boulder falls on vehicle in Kohistan

MANSEHRA: Three people, including two army soldiers, lost lives and another sustained critical injuries when a massive boulder detached from a nearby mountain along the Karakoram Highway and rolled down over a passenger coach in the Loter area of Upper Kohistan on Monday.

“Two army personnel and a civilian lost their lives when a landslide hit the passenger coach,” Abdul Rehman from Rescue 1122, told reporters.The Northern Areas Transport Company’s passenger coach carrying passengers was on its way to Gilgit from Rawalpindi when a massive boulder rolled over it leaving four people seriously injured.

Rescue 1122 personnel along with ambulances rushed to the scene and shifted them to District Headquarters Hospital in Dasu. The doctors pronounced Imtiaz Hussain, a resident of Gilgit, and Sangal Hussain, a resident of Yasin area of Ghizer, both stated to be army soldiers, and Sultan Mehmood the resident of Rawalpindi dead.

Dilshad Qamar, a resident of Rawalpindi who received critical injuries was referred to the Ayub Medical Complex (AMC) Hospital in Abbottabad where his condition was stated to be stable.Sources said that both the army soldiers were on their way to their homes to spend vacations.

The rescue 1122 official said bodies of the victims were dispatched to their respective hometowns through ambulances.Meanwhile, a four-year-old boy Mohammad Hafeez was killed and four other people sustained critical injuries when a tri-wheeler fell into a deep ravine in the Oghi area here.