Pakistan: At least 21 people died trapped inside their vehicles due to a snowstorm

At least 21 people have been killed in Pakistan in a massive traffic jam caused by tens of thousands of visitors in a mountainous city with unusually heavy snow, authorities said today.

Pakistani rescue service Rescue 1122 has released a list of 21 people who died, including a police officer, his wife and their six children. Hassan Hawar, a spokesman for the Punjab government, explained that they ended up in the cold of their car.

Police confirmed that eight people had died from the cold in their car, but it was not immediately clear if the other victims had died from the same cause or from carbon monoxide poisoning they had inhaled in the cab of their vehicle.

Interior Minister Sheikh Rahid Ahmed said the army had mobilized to clear the streets and help thousands of people still stranded near Mouri, about 70km northeast of the capital Islamabad.

Videos posted on social media depict immobilized vehicles one behind the other with a meter of snow on their roofs.

According to a tourist, who is still stranded in the city, it was still snowing this afternoon. “People are facing a terrible situation,” Usman Abbasi told AFP by telephone.

For days, many photos have been posted on Pakistani social media depicting tourists playing in the snow around Moore, a city founded in the 19th century by the British as a sanatorium for their colonial troops.

Authorities in Punjab province have declared Muri a “disaster zone” and urged residents not to go there.

Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan said he was shocked but also outraged by the tragedy.

“Unprecedented snowfall and an influx of people moving without controlling the weather took hexapine control of the region,” he wrote on Twitter.

“I have ordered an investigation and I am enforcing a strict regulation to ensure the prevention of such tragedies,” he added.

Authorities had already warned last weekend that the number of visitors arriving in Muri was too high, but that did not stop large numbers of Islamabad residents from rushing there again.

“It’s not just tourists, the local population is also facing serious problems,” said Usmani Abbasi. “Gas cylinders are running out and in most neighborhoods there is no drinking water – either it is frozen or the pipes have been damaged by the cold,” he said, adding that hotels had no food.

Mouri is located at an altitude of 2,300 meters and the narrow roads that lead there are very often congested, even in summer.

According to Sheikh Rashid Ahmed, the townspeople hosted many visitors who had been stranded there and handed blankets and food to those who had been stranded in the traffic jams.

Schools and other public buildings also receive excluded visitors, he added.

Source: AMPE