12 killed in Murree chairlift crash

MURREE: Twelve people died when a locally made chair lift cable broke, sending riders plunging into a ravine in a mountain hamlet in the Charra Pani village in Murree on Thursday. 

A woman and a child were among the dead in the incident which occurred due to overweight in the chairlift. People sitting in the chairlift fell into at least 400 metres deep ditch. It was learnt that there was a capacity of eight persons in the ill-fated chairlift which was over loaded due to the Eid crowd of commuters. This chairlift was operated by a local person who is unskilled and no proper maintenance was carried out. This chairlift was being used since many years for commuters travelling between two villages at the adjoining areas of Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa as there is no alternate short route available for the commuters. The relatives of the diseased persons blocked the main Murree road in protest against the incident. However, traffic was restored by the traffic police. The officials of Rescue 1122 rushed to the spot shortly after the incident and conducted rescue operation. The diseased included Wasif, Arif, Shabbir, Saima, Akhlaq, Abdul Majeed, Mujahid, Sohaib, Ahmad, Rohaan and Shazil.  Chairlift accidents are common in mountainous areas of Pakistan, where the lifts are often used to cross rivers. Four people drowned when a chairlift broke in Diamer district of Gilgit-Baltistan last month.  Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in a statement expressed grief over the loss of lives over the Murree incident.