Thousands of tourists were trapped on roads leading to a popular mountain resort in Pakistan
Nearly two dozen people, including families with children, who were on their way to a Murree ski resort in Punjab, Pakistan, have frozen to death or suffocated in their cars after being trapped by unusually heavy snowstorm.
In the majority of cases the death was caused by hypothermia while some of the victims may have suffered asphyxiation from car fumes, authorities said. The list of 22 victims released by the rescue officials includes names of 10 children. According to the Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid, “around a thousand cars” have got stranded on the highway leading to Murree since Friday night. Military personnel, police and rescue service teams were deployed to evacuate people from their vehicles with local residents providing help to the trapped tourists.
#Rescue1122 The real heroes #MurreeAlert pic.twitter.com/AKWWwFIKiU
— sajjad Abbasi (@sajjadAbbasi4) January 8, 2022
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The helicopter rescue operation, however, had to be delayed because of severe weather conditions.
Pakistan Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid says the military has mobilised to clear roads and rescue thousands still trapped near Murree after at least 21 died in vehicles trapped by snowstorm pic.twitter.com/U5DaM5CR0Z