Sheep, goats die from cold in Mansehra

MANSEHRA: Hundreds of sheep and goats died from cold while the shepherds, who were caught in heavy snowfall in Khambanar area of Balakot tehsil, managed to reach the Nooritop area of Azad Jammu and Kashmir.

“We found that a large number of sheep and goats died from cold and shepherds went to Azad Jammu and Kashmir to seek shelter from extreme weather,” Amir Khadam, a team member of the Rescue 1122, told reporters on Friday.

A joint team of the Rescue 1122 and Kaghan Development Authority had gone to Khambanar to rescue over a dozen people, including shepherds stranded in heavy snowfall. The team, which reached in the evening, stayed almost the entire night in the area and found hundreds of goats and sheep lying dead.

“Around a dozen people, six of them shepherds from Balakot, were stranded when a falling glacier cut off the way to the Kaghan valley,” Khadam said.

He said the upper parts of Kaghan valley and neighbouring AJK received heavy snowfall in June which compelled shepherds to leave the area.