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"RESCUE OPERATION" TO HELP SNOWFISH-HUNTING TOURISTS IN DISTRESS
News reports on January 8th and 9th, citing official sources, stated that among the at least 22 people killed by the snowstorm on their way to Murree, an Islamabad police officer, his wife, and six children froze to death in their snow-covered car. Another family of five also met a similar tragic end.
Most victims died from hypothermia, while the rest may have died from carbon monoxide poisoning due to leaving the car's heater on for extended periods, according to Dr. Abdur Rehman.
Approximately 1,000 cars carrying tourists on a snow-hunting trip were stranded at the train station on the hill near the town of Murree. (Photo: Reuters)
Images shared on social media over the weekend showed long lines of cars bumper-to-bumper on snow-covered roads, with snowdrifts up to 1 meter high on the roofs of vehicles. “The heavy snowfall caused traffic jams, paralyzing all the roads (to Murree),” the French news agency AFP quoted Babaf Khan, one of the thousands of tourists stranded on the roads overnight from January 7th to the morning of January 8th, as saying by phone.
Regarding this snowstorm, Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry emphasized that: Weather records from the past several decades have been broken in the past 48 hours (of snowstorm). (Photo: EPA-EFE)
The army was mobilized to carry out a rescue operation, saving thousands of vehicles and snow-hunters trapped in snow up to 1.2 meters deep on the roads leading to the town of Murree. The rescued tourists were then transported to five newly established army relief camps. Local residents also helped the stranded tourists in Murree by providing food, shelter, and warm blankets.
The military participated in an operation to rescue thousands of vehicles and snow-hunters stranded on roads near the town of Murree. (Photo: CNN)
CONSEQUENCES OF OVERCROWDING OF TOURISTS "HUNTING" FOR SNOW
The Punjab Governor's Office immediately declared the area around Murree a "disaster zone" and urged people to stay away. Prime Minister Imran Khan shared on Twitter that he was shocked and saddened, and had "ordered an investigation and strong regulations to prevent such tragedies."
Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan has ordered an investigation into the deaths of dozens of tourists who were out snow-hunting. (Photo: voi.id)
Earlier, the website of Pakistan's National Weather Forecasting Center reported heavy snowfall in the Murree area, expected to continue until the afternoon of January 9th. Authorities also warned of the high volume of traffic attempting to enter Murree. However, this was not enough to deter thousands of tourists from Islamabad from continuing to flock to this popular destination to "hunt" for snow.
As of the morning of January 8th, many cars were still waiting to be rescued on the road near the town of Murree. (Photo: CNN)
For several days leading up to last weekend, Pakistani social media was flooded with images and videos of tourists successfully "hunting" for ice and snow around Muree – a picturesque resort town built by the British during the colonial era as a place to escape the intense summer heat in Punjab province.
A car is rescued from a thick layer of snow. (Photo: CNN)
Murree is a resort town with a population of 30,000, situated at an average altitude of nearly 2,300m in the Galyat region of the Pir Panjal mountain range, within the city of Rawalpindi, Punjab province, Pakistan. Murree forms a special suburb of the Islamabad-Rawalpindi metropolitan area, located approximately 64km northeast of Islamabad by road.
Interior Minister Sheikh Rasheed Ahmed said the Pakistani government has decided to close all roads leading to the town of Murree to limit the influx of tourists seeking to "hunt" for snow. (Photo: dailytimes.com.pk)
Murree attracts visitors with its spectacular and unique landscape stretching across steep hillsides and valleys. However, the narrow roads are frequently congested with traffic due to the overwhelming number of tourists flocking there, even in good weather.
Each year, Murree attracts over 1 million visitors, especially in winter when tourists flock to this high mountain region to "hunt" for unique snow and ice landscapes, despite warnings about heavy snowfall often causing serious traffic jams.
