Daily Times

Prime Minister Imran Khan Saturday expressed shock over the death of 22 tourists as heavy snow trapped them in their vehicles as tens of thousands of visitors thronged Murree. “Shocked and upset at tragic deaths of tourists on road to Murree,” PM Imran Khan said, as he mentioned that “unprecedented snowfall and rush of people proceeding without checking weather conditions caught district administration unprepared”. Prime Minister Imran Khan expressing his shock and grief at the tragic deaths of tourists in Murree, ordered an inquiry and regulations to avert such tragedies in the future. In a tweet, the prime minister observed that heavy snowfall and a huge rush of tourists caught the district administration unprepared. “Shocked & upset at tragic deaths of tourists on road to Murree. Unprecedented snowfall & rush of ppl (people) proceeding without checking weather conditions caught district admin unprepared. Have ordered inquiry & putting in place strong regulation to ensure prevention of such tragedies,” he posted on his twitter handle.

In his condolence message, the President prayed Allah Almighty to rest the departed souls in eternal peace and grant courage to the bereaved families to bear the loss with fortitude. He expressed hope that the Murree administration would safely evacuate the people stranded in the resort town. Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Chaudhry Fawad Hussain said that the government was fully alert and standing with the people in this difficult time and added that the situation was improving as all the relevant departments were busy to overcome the situation.

The minister said in the last 48 hours, Murree received unprecedented snowfall, which resulted in loss of precious human lives. He said that Kuldana and Barian were the most affected areas and loss of human lives also occurred in these areas. The information minister said that Prime Minister Imran Khan had taken notice of the incident and directed Punjab Chief Minister Sardar Usman Buzdar to reach there.

He said that the Murree administration was working there, five platoons of Pakistan Army were also working whereas Frontier Works Organization (FWO) had moved its machinery there to remove snow from the roads.

Fawad Hussain said that according to the latest reports, Expressway had been cleared while Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government had opened all routes from Nathia Gali side. He said the Punjab government was taking all possible measures to manage the situation.