Avalanche hits jeep moments after passengers escape

CHITRAL: An avalanche hits a jeep in Laspur valley of Upper Chitral moments after all its 10 passengers escaped unhurt, a local told this correspondent.

Shahid Wali of Brok village, one of the passengers, said the vehicle got stuck on the slippery road at Shaidas Gol.

In the meantime, a big mass of snow started breaking down from the hill. Seeing this, the passengers started disembarking from the jeep and ran towards safety.

Shahid said had the avalanche hits jeep with the passengers inside, all of them would have been buried alive.

He said the jeep was later retrieved from the debris by the personnel of Chitral Scouts, police and the local people after hectic efforts of many hours.

He said all the passengers were going to their villages after having been quarantined in Booni for two weeks when the incident occurred. The avalanche blocked the road for hours and people weer seen stranded on both sides of the stream.

Avalanches are common in Chitral especially in the spring season and have claimed many lives.

In March 2017, an avalanche buried nine people and injured many others in the Shershal village of Karimabad valley in Lower Chitral. The area remained blocked for weeks as the avalanche could not be removed from the road.–Zahiruddin