“RESCUE CAMPAIGN” FOR TOURISTS “HUNTING” SNOW IN ACCIDENT
The press on January 8 and 9 quoted sources from the authorities as saying: among at least 22 people killed by snowstorms on the way to the town of Murree, there was an Islamabad police officer, his wife and six children who froze to death in a snow-covered car. Another family of five also suffered a similar tragedy.
Most of the victims died from hypothermia, while the rest may have died from carbon monoxide poisoning from leaving the car heater on for a long time, according to Dr. Abdur Rehman.
About 1,000 cars carrying tourists on a snow-hunting trip were stuck at a hill station near the town of Murree. (Photo: Reuters)
Images shared on social media over the weekend showed long lines of cars packed on snow-covered roads, with snow piles up to 1m high on the roofs. “The heavy snowfall has caused traffic jams, leaving the roads (to Murree) paralyzed,” Babaf Khan, one of thousands of tourists stranded on the road overnight from January 7 to the morning of January 8, told AFP by phone.
Regarding this snowstorm, Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry emphasized that: Weather records of the past decades have been broken in the past 48 hours (of snowstorm). (Photo: EPA-EFE)
The army was called in to rescue thousands of vehicles and snow-seekers stranded by up to 1.2m of snow on the roads leading to Murree. The rescued tourists were taken to five relief camps set up by the army. Local residents also stepped in to help the stranded tourists in Murree by providing them with food, shelter and blankets.
The army is taking part in a rescue operation to free thousands of vehicles and snow-hunters stranded on roads near the town of Murree. (Photo: CNN)
CONSEQUENCES OF OVERCROWD OF TOURISTS "HUNTING" FOR SNOW
The Punjab Chief Minister's Office immediately declared the area around Murree a "disaster zone" and urged people to stay away. Prime Minister Imran Khan tweeted that he was shocked and saddened and had "ordered an investigation and strong rules to prevent such tragedies."
Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan has ordered an investigation into the deaths of dozens of tourists on their way to “hunt” for snow. (Photo: voi.id)
Previously, the website of the Pakistan National Weather Center reported that heavy snowfall in the Murree area would last until the afternoon of January 9. Authorities also warned that there were too many vehicles trying to "enter" Murree. But that was not enough to stop thousands of tourists from the capital Islamabad from continuing to flock to this famous tourist destination to "hunt" for snow.
As of the morning of January 8, many cars were still waiting to be rescued on the road near the town of Murree. (Photo: CNN)
For several days before 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 colonial times as a place to “escape the heat” of the harsh summer in Punjab province.
A car is rescued from a thick pile of snow. (Photo: CNN)
Murree is a resort town of 30,000 people, at an average altitude of nearly 2,300 m, in the Galyat region of the Pir Panjal mountain range, in the city of Rawalpindi, Punjab province, Pakistan. Murree forms a distinct suburb of the Islamabad-Rawalpindi metropolitan area, located approximately 64 km 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 tourists from coming to "hunt" for snow. (Photo: dailytimes.com.pk)
Murree attracts tourists with its unique and spectacular landscape spanning steep hillsides and valleys. But the narrow roads are often congested with tourists even in good weather.
Every year, Murree attracts more than 1 million tourists, especially in winter when tourists flock to this high mountain region to "hunt" for unique ice and snow scenes, despite warnings that heavy snowfall often causes serious traffic jams and congestion.
