Pakistan: 23 people including 9 children die trapped in cars after snowfall in Murree

A total of 23 people died, including nine children, froze to death in their vehicles in Pakistan's Murree after heavy snowfall on Sunday. The government declared Murree a calamity-hit area following unprecedented snowfall. Hundreds of thousands of tourists were evacuated to safe places by the Islamabad police. Rescue and search operations are going on in the area, said Inspector General Islamabad Muhammad Ahsan Younas, reported ANI, citing ARY News. More than 1500 police officials were deployed to evacuate the stranded citizens in Murree.

Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar declared a state of emergency in the calamity-hit area on Saturday. The authorities were forced to call the Pakistani Army for rescue operations as all the routes in Murree in Rawalpindi district were blocked and thousands of vehicles were stuck in the hill station, leaving the tourists helpless, reported Dawn. The Rawalpindi administration informed the Punjab CM that the Pakistani Meteorological Department (PMD) had not issued an alert warning about the unprecedented snowfall. As per media reports, Pakistan's popular hill station Murree received five feet of snowfall, and the roads were also blocked by the administration on the night of January 6, and people were asked not to travel to the area.

Meanwhile, the Pakistani Prime Minister, Imran Khan, expressed grief over the tragic incident, by tweeting, 'Unprecedented snowfall & rush of people proceeding without checking weather conditions caught district admin unprepared. I have ordered an inquiry and am putting in place strong regulations to ensure the prevention of such tragedies.'

However, his remark drew massive criticism from the opposition leaders, as Khan blamed the tourists who arrived at the location without checking weather conditions. Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz spokesperson Marriyum Aurangzeb demanded Khan's resignation over his remark. She said PM Imran Khan should resign for blaming the innocent tourists for the calamity.

"Around 23,000 vehicles have been evacuated safely from Murree. Around 1,000 are still stranded, "Rawalpindi deputy commissioner tweeted.

Tourists in large numbers started visiting the hill station after snowfall started in the area on Tuesday. However, due to the rush, tens of thousands of vehicles were stuck on the roads. As per reports, more than 100,000 vehicles had entered the hill station.

Image: AP

With Inputs from ANI