Landslide: Gilgit-Shandur link road blocked

Traffic on the avenue worsened stranding nearly 10,000 tourists in Shandur.

GILGIT: A major portion of a highway connecting Gilgit with Shandur was swept away by a massive landslide on Sunday, severing traffic on the avenue and stranding nearly 10,000 tourists in Shandur. According to Gilgit Assistant Commissioner Usman Ahmad, the landslide stuck near Phundar, which is about 30 kilometres from Shandur, where the famous three-day Shandur Polo Festival is nearing completion. The commissioner said that given the level of damage to the highway, it will take at least a week to resume traffic. He added that traffic between Chitral and Ghizer will also remain suspended. Ahmad said that debris has also blocked a portion of the river, threatening villages downstream. He said that tourists stranded in Shandur have the option of returning by taking the much-longer Chitral-Peshawar Road.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 9^th, 2012.