At least seven people were killed, including four women and a child, while another seven were injured when a jeep plunged into a deep roadside gorge along the Abbottabad-Haripur road on Thursday.
Police officials said that the jeep (bearing registration IBD -104) had initially started from Lora village in Galiyat with 14 passengers aboard - all members of a family. They travelled to Battangi for ‘ziarat’ and Urs or religious visit, which is locally called Ghania Kohri.
While returning to Lora, the driver of the vehicle los control over the wheels of the jeep near a slight bend in the road near the Seri village in Ghadoi area at around 2 pm. As a result, the jeep ran off the road and plunged into the deep roadside gorge.
Locals rushed to rescue survivors and retrieve the bodies while the authorities were called in.
Galiyat Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) told Express Tribune that the jeep may have developed some technical fault which caused the accident, terrible adding that the vehicle fell at least a thousand feet in the dangerous mountainous region.
"I have collected information about the accident while local police officials are participating in the rescue effort downstream,” the DSP said.
Lora Police Station SHO Inspector Riaz Khan said that as soon as they learnt of the incident, he and Additional SHO Shezad Khan along with other police staff and locals rushed to the spot.
Noting that the site of the accident is located at least two hours from the main Lora Chowk on the Abbottabad-Haripur road, they had managed to rescue the injured and pulled the bodies.
The injured and the bodies, he said, had been shifted to the Havelian Regional Health Centre (RHC) for basic treatment. Those requiring serious medical treatment were shifted to the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) in Islamabad and the Ayub Medical Complex in Abbottabad.
Of those injured, the condition of more than half was described by doctors to be critical, police officials said.
Meanwhile, former deputy National Assembly speaker Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz PML-N) member Murtaza Javed Abbasi - who is a resident of Galiyat, expressed his deep sorrow on the unfortunate incident and condoled with the family of the deceased. He demanded that the government launch a probe into the incident.
Traffic accidents in the Galiyat are commonplace because of the precarious roads and old vehicles. Earlier in the week, the region had received heavy showers and even hail which had damaged crops, prompting locals to demand compensation from the provincial government.
Published in The Express Tribune, July 3rd, 2020.
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