Passengers suffer as floods wash away bridge in Dir

DIR: Thousands of passengers suffered as the road on Dir side of the Lowari Tunnel was closed for traffic after flood washed away a bridge on the stream. “Hundreds of passengers were sent back from the tunnel on Saturday. However, the bridge was repaired late on Sunday,” stated a passenger Akbar Khan. The Lowari Tunnel remains open for two days in a week,Saturday and Sunday, while hundreds of vehicles were stranded and could not cross the nullah due to over-flooding. Most of the passengers, who crossed the tunnel, could not travel to Peshawar and other parts of the province and they had to return to Chitral on Saturday while some of them had to stay in Dir. However, officials said the Pakistan Army Engineering Unit set up a temporary bridge on the Mena Khwar on Sundayand the vehicles were allowed to cross it. “Though it was the last day for the closure of the tunnel, almost all the passenger vehicles on both sides were allowed to cross the bridge,” said an official. On the other hand, it was continuously raining in Dir where, according to the Meteorological Department officials, about 30ml rain had been recorded in Dir.