Eid blues: Landslides block Kaghan Road for almost two days

MANSEHRA:

Visitors were stranded for almost two days in Balakot tehsil on Sunday after landslides suspended traffic on Kaghan Road (Shahra-e-Kaghan).

Eyewitnesses and Balakot police said that heavy rains caused landslides in three different parts of the highway, near Biseyan, Banda Jageer and Hasari villages, cutting off Balakot tehsil from Mansehra, Kaghan and Kashmir. Vehicles lined up in queues on both sides of the highway, which attracts scores of tourists from across the country every year.

Naeemullah Khan, a tourist from Lahore, told The Express Tribune that he was stranded on the highway about 10 kilometres ahead of Balakot along with dozens of tourists wanting to travel down country to celebrate Eid with their families. However, he said the travellers settled in roadside eateries till the road was cleared.

The highway was cleared for traffic by the National Highway Authority on Tuesday afternoon.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 23^rd, 2012.