Tragic accident: Seven lives lost in Swat River cable car tragedy

Three women, one child among the victims.

SWAT:

Seven people drowned in the Swat River on Tuesday after a chairlift accident in the Bahrain tehsil of Swat, residents said. A steel cable attached to the chairlift suddenly collapsed, sending the victims tumbling into the water, they said.

Three women and one child were among those who drowned. Five bodies have been fished out, while a search operation is under way for the remaining victims.

The manual chairlift, connecting Ramait village with the main road from Madyan to Kalam was installed by local residents after floodwaters washed away the bridge in 2010.

“The bridge was a lifeline for the 3,000 residents of Ramait village. Apart from other heavy losses, it was wiped out by the floods. For many days, we were cut off from the rest of the area, which resulted in many problems,” local resident Taj Malook said. “This chairlift was installed on an emergency basis, to connect us with the rest of the area and help us resume a normal social and financial life.”

“We asked our elected representative to construct a bridge, but aside from promises, he did nothing. The major issue is that women and children of the area have to cross the river in the chairlift,” Malook added.

Residents of Bahrain tehsil blamed both the provincial government and elected representatives for the accident.

“This is not the first incident of a chairlift falling into the Swat River. Manual cable cars were installed by the local people to cross Swat River to their villages ever since floods in 2010 washed away the entire infrastructure in upper Swat.  Currently, more than 80% of the population is dependent upon these dangerous chairlifts. On the other hand, I can see no existence of the government here. Our elected representative has not yet constructed a single bridge,” Zubair Torwali, a social activist of the area, told The Express Tribune, adding that the local MPA has only constructed a road to his own land, which cost Rs110 million.

Torwali appealed to the Pakistan Army to construct bridges across the Swat River to save locals from further tragedies.

Muhammad Naeem, sub-divisional magistrate of Bahrain tehsil, said that a search operation is under way under his supervision to recover the rest of the bodies. “There is a serious need for bridges to be built across the Swat River, as more than half of the population resides there. On my part, I have forwarded all the applications of the locals for the construction of bridges to the higher authorities,” he said.

The planned construction of two bridges on the Swat River, one at Mankyal area and the other at Aryana village, began in December 2011, but work on them has been discontinued due to the suspension of funds.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 17^th, 2012.