Seven dead as nature unleashes its wrath

Women get buried under glacier in Naran; workers get struck by lightning

MANSEHRA/KHAR: At least three women died when a glacier fell on them near Naran, while four others died when lightning struck in Bajaur Agency. Both the incidents took place on Sunday.

At a distance of around five kilometres from Naran, on Lake Saiful Malook Road, three women died when part of a glacier fell on them.

According to the police, the women were from Karachi and had come to Naran for a picnic. They were clicking selfies under a narrow place in a glacier when the incident occurred.

Their bodies were later recovered, then shifted to Naran hospital. The victims were identified as Rozina Bibi, Irum Waqar and Nimra Sufiyan. The bodies were handed over to their relatives.

It is common for picnickers to pose for photographs under the glacier over which vehicles also pass.

Death by the river

Over the past week, five people lost their lives after falling in Kunhar River in Balakot tehsil of Kaghan Valley. Some of them accidentally slipped into the river while taking pictures, showing how the activity distracts people enough to not care about their lives while standing near dangerous points, such as banks of gushing waters.

On August 20, two people died after drowning in the river. Eyewitnesses and the police had told the media that a woman and a man were taking pictures on the bank of the river, under Ayub bridfe in Balakot, when the woman’s foot slipped, making her fall in the river. To save her, the man jumped in, but he also drowned.

Divers in the area recovered the bodies after an hour of the incident, the police had said.

On August 15, three of a family, including a doctor, drowned in the same river. According to the police and eyewitnesses, a family from DG Khan was in Kaghan for picnic when the incident occurred.

Usama, 10, was strolling by the river near Bisiyan village in Balakot, when his foot slipped and he plunged into the river. His sister, 11-year-old Saima, jumped in to save him but she too drowned. Their parents, Neelam Bibi and her husband Dr Naveed Atif, also jumped in to save their children, but they were swept away. However, the divers only managed to save Usama.

Lightning in Bajaur 

On the other hand, in Bajaur Agency, at least four people died while others were injured when lightning struck them.

The victims were working in Banda Salarzai Adda on the Upper Dir-Bajaur border in the evening when lightning struck them.

The political administration and Frontier Corps started rescue work in the area. They shifted the injured and deceased to Agency Headquarters Hospital Khar.

The officials told the media, the weather change caused damage to vegetable crops in the fields. Moreover, a flood-like situation was also observed in the area.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 22^nd,  2016.