KARACHI, Pakistan (Reuters) – At least 16 vacationers died in freezing temperatures after being stranded of their automobiles in northern Pakistan, the place hundreds had flocked to benefit from the snow, officers stated on Saturday.
With some 1,000 automobiles nonetheless stranded, the federal government has declared Murree, 64 km (40 miles) northeast of the capital Islamabad, a calamity hit space.
“For the first time in 15 to 20 years such large number of tourists flocked to Murree, which created a big crisis,” Sheikh Rashid Ahmed, Pakistan’s inside minister stated a video message.
The minister stated that round 1,000 vehicles have been caught within the hill station, a city elevated from the close by space, confirming that “16 to 19 deaths have occurred of their vehicles.”
Army platoons and paramilitary forces have been deployed to assist the civil administration in rescue operations, he stated.
Late on Friday the federal government introduced the closure of all roads resulting in the station to cease any additional inflow of the vacationers.
Prime Minister Imran Khan expressed shock over the “tragic deaths” of the vacationers. “Have ordered inquiry and setting up sturdy laws to make sure prevention of such tragedies,” Khan stated in a tweet.
Information Minister Fawad (*16*) appealed to individuals to not go to the hill station.
Snowfall, which started on Tuesday evening, continued at common intervals, attracting hundreds of vacationers. Due to very large numbers of tourists, many households ended up getting stranded on roads.
Local media reported that over 100,000 automobiles entered the hill station.
Videos shared on social media confirmed whole households, together with youngsters, mendacity lifeless of their snow coated automobiles.
“Were the deaths attributable to chilly or carbon monoxide (CO) poisoning?,” Dr. Faheem Yonus, chief of infectious illnesses at the University of Maryland UCH, stated in a tweet. “CO is odorless, deadly if an idling automotive is buried in snow, the blocked exhaust (silencer) can rapidly kill the passengers as they breath CO.”
Officials have given no phrase on the causes of the deaths.
(Reporting by Syed Raza Hassan; Editing by William Mallard)
