Four more bodies taken out from a ditch

Total number of recovered bodies rises to 12, while 12 still missing

PESHAWAR: Rescue workers on Sunday pulled four more bodies from the wreckage of a van which fell into a ravine near Janja Bogra Dara in the Upper Kohistan District.

This brings to 12 the number of bodies recovered from the wreckage thus far with another 12 missing., Kohistan District Police Officer Abdul Saboor confirmed.

As many as 24 people, including eight women and five children, are feared to have drowned when a van with some 32 people on board had gone off the road and into a deep roadside gorge on Friday evening. Eight passengers managed to jump and swim to safety on the banks of the stream.

The victims, all hailing from the same family in the Upper Kohistan area, were on their way back from attending a wedding function.

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Saboor said that on the third day of the incident, rescue workers had managed to recover four more bodies, adding that 12 bodies are still missing.

Deputy Chief Warden Ubaidur Rehman said that owing to a shortage of rescue tools and equipment, they were facing immense problems in searching for the bodies of the victims.

“We immediately require ropes, rubber boats, searchlights, stretchers, and life jackets,” he said.

Meanwhile, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Mahmood Khan visited the region on Sunday and condoled with the families of the victims. Residents of Upper Kohistan are expecting some relief after Mahmood’s visit.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 2^nd, 2019.