Selfie tragedy: Five tourists die, 11 hurt as hotel balcony wall collapses in Chitral

CHITRAL: Five tourists, including three women, died and 11 others were injured when the outer wall of the balcony of a hotel collapsed here on Thursday.

Police and eyewitnesses said the outer wall of the balcony of one of the rooms on the third floor of Terichmir View Hotel collapsed when the tourists were taking a selfie by leaning over it. “The 16 tourists were injured in the tragedy. They were rushed to the District Headquarters hospital where five of them succumbed to their injuries,” said a police official.

He said the deceased, including a couple, were identified as Ejaz, Fakhira and Rasheeda, Rutba and Imran Zaib, residents of Kasur district in Punjab. The injured included Imran, Mudassir, Naya, Faheem, Fajar, Musa, Isa, Shehla and Mahrab. The sources said that 20 people from four families from Kasur were staying in four rooms of the same hotel and all of them had gathered at the balcony when the incident happened. A large number of people gathered at the hospital soon after the incident and donated blood for the injured.

Meanwhile, the Provincial Disaster Management Authority in a statement said that the injured were airlifted to Peshawar via a helicopter on the directives of the chief secretary. A large number of people have thronged Chitral district from different cities, especially in Punjab, after the government announced to lift the Covid-19 restrictions. “There is a huge rush of tourists and most of the hotels in the town are overcrowded,” said one of the hotel owners.