Fatal accidents: Four dead, seven injured as jeep falls into gorge

In another incident, lineman electrocuted.

MUZAFFARABAD:

At least four people were killed and seven others injured when a passenger jeep fell into a gorge in Neelum Valley, some 120 kilometres from here, police said.

The passenger jeep, which was going to Shonter Valley from Kel, reportedly fell into a deep ravine while negotiating a bend on the Shonter-Kel link road in upper Neelum Valley.

As a result of the incident, four passengers were killed on the spot while seven received multiple injuries. The deceased were identified as Naseer Ahmad, resident of Kel, Akbar Khan, a resident of Domail, Zafran Qadir, a resident of Kel and Maqsood Shams.

All the injured were shifted to Kel Hospital where doctors said two of the injured were in critical condition. Meanwhile, the local people have demanded that an emergency service like Rescue 1122 be set up in Neelum Valley to address such eventualities.

In another incident, a lineman of the Electricity Department of Azad Jammu and Kashmir was electrocuted in Kotli city while working on transmission lines. The police identified the victim as Javed Chaudhry, 30. He was rushed to the District Headquarters Hospital Kotli where doctors pronounced him dead.

The victim’s family approached the police to register an FIR against the employees on duty for criminal negligence. “When the transmission lines were being repaired by the lineman, why did the employees on duty switch on the electricity passing through the transmission lines without confirming its maintenance status?” said a grief-stricken Sajjad, Chaudhry’s brother.

“This action raises various questions and doubts and we want an impartial inquiry into the incident by both the police and the departmental to fix responsibility,” he said, while talking to The Express Tribune.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 25^th, 2013.