Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: Eleven people were killed when a chairlift cable broke, sending riders plunging into a ravine near Banwari in Murree on Thursday.

The accident occurred some 30 kilometres (18 miles) north of Islamabad in the Charra Pani village in Murree.

“The villagers use a chairlift to cross the river and it broke, coming off the cable, which killed 11 people,” local rescue official Muhammad Farooq said.

According to rescuers, the lift was being used for transportation between Sharafani in Punjab and Banwari in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The lift was the only means of transportation between the two hilly areas as there are no roads connecting the two. Locals had reportedly set up the cable car service on a self-help basis.

Assistant Commissioner Murree Arifullah Khan confirmed the incident, reporting that rescue personnel have shifted the bodies from the scene of the incident.

However, the Rawalpindi deputy commissioner later said that the accident had not occurred in Murree tehsil of Punjab. “The incident occurred in the jurisdiction of Lora Police Station in Havelian in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. The Punjab administration is extending all cooperation to the local administration for the relief activities,” he said.

The families of the victims staged protest by keeping the bodies on the road. They said that the administration had failed to provide adequate help to them. They said that the local officials were not cooperating with them.

Chairlift accidents are common in mountainous areas of Pakistan, where the lifts are often used to cross rivers.

Four people drowned when a chairlift broke in Diamer district of Gilgit-Baltistan in northern Pakistan last month.

PM, Punjab CM express grief: Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and Punjab Chief Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif on Thursday expressed deep sense of sorrow and grief over the loss of precious human lives in the accident. Shahbaz Sharif expressed heartfelt sympathies and condolences with the bereaved families and prayed for early recovery of the injured.

Information minister: A condolence reference, chaired by Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting Marriyum Aurganzeb, was held in Islamabad on Thursday to express sorrow at the recent traffic incidents in the country.

On the occasion, fateha was offered for those killed in recent terror attacks in Parachinar and Quetta, the Bahawalpur oil tanker tragedy and the chairlift accident.

The participants of the reference also prayed for speedy recovery of those injured in the unfortunate incidents. Speaking on the occasion, the minister said the entire nation shared the grief of the affected families.

The reference was attended by Secretary Information Sardar Ahmad Nawaz Sukhera and other high ranking officials of the ministry of information and broadcasting.

Published in Daily Times, June 30th, 2017.