At least 21 People died in their cars after being stranded in Murree Snowfall
According to authorities hundreds of thousands of people visited Murree, Some people were stuck inside their vehicles due to heavy snowfall which stranded them which led to the death of 21 people.
Their deaths resulted from suffocation from being trapped inside their cars after being buried by an overnight snowfall in Murree. Mothers, children, and friends who died while waiting to be rescued are deceased.
According to the administration, the government has declared a state of emergency in Murree “due to excessive snowfall and difficulty encountered by residents and visitors, resulting in several deaths.
The military is working to clear roads and rescue individuals stuck near Murree, a hilly village.
According to Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid, some thousands of automobiles were stranded on a motorway during a snowfall, but still, thousands of them are stuck there.
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Murree is a mountain resort town north of Islamabad, Pakistan’s capital. Tourists were stranded due to snow, according to local media on Friday. More than 100,000 automobiles drove into Murree to witness the exceptionally heavy snowfall in recent days. This resulted in a massive traffic bottleneck on roadways heading into and out of town, according to authorities.
8 of the 22 persons dead were relatives of fellow officer Naveed Iqbal, who was also killed, according to authorities. Officials said all 16 perished of hypothermia.
In the winter, snow typically blocks streets leading into the city.
Overnight, more than 4ft (1.2 meters) of snow fell in the area, and all inbound traffic was barred on Saturday, according to Ahmed.
According to the ministry, paramilitary personnel and a particular military mountain unit have been called to assist.
“Until then, no cars or even individuals on foot are allowed into Murree save for emergency and rescue vehicles and those delivering food to the stranded people,” he said.
According to a local administrator, heavy snowfall impeded rescue attempts during the night, and heavy equipment sent to clear the snow became stuck at first.
Officials did not provide any other information on individuals who died in their stranded automobiles, but they did say they were working on recovery and rescue efforts.
The visitors that were stranded were given food and blankets.
Cars were crammed bumper to bumper in a video on social media, with 3ft high (1 meter) snow piled on their roofs.
According to Pakistan’s National Weather Forecasting Center’s website, heavy snowfall is forecast in the area till Sunday afternoon. At the same time, Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry said that “decades” of meteorological records had been broken in the previous 48 hours.
The office of Punjab’s chief minister said that the region had been declared a disaster zone and encouraged people to stay away.
Pakistan’s Prime Minister, Imran Khan, expressed his sorrow and dismay at the incident.
He tweeted,
Shocked & upset at tragic deaths of tourists on road to Murree. Unprecedented snowfall & rush of ppl proceeding without checking weather conditions caught district admin unprepared. Have ordered inquiry & putting in place strong regulation to ensure prevention of such tragedies.
— Imran Khan (@ImranKhanPTI) January 8, 2022
“Unprecedented snowfall & rush of people proceeding without verifying weather conditions took district admin off guard.”
“I’ve ordered an investigation and put in place strict regulations to guarantee that similar tragedies don’t happen again.”
The majority of the roads leading to the area’s resorts had been cleared of snow by late Saturday, but some work remained. Military men and machinery worked to clear all of the streets, and army-run schools were used to set up relief camps that supplied shelter and food.
This is the biggest incident in the history of Murree when hundreds of thousands of people visited Murree and some were stranded in snowfall and died due to suffocation.
so sad incident