As many as nineteen tourists died as the Army, Frontier Corps, and Rangers were called in to rescue thousands of visitors stranded in the freezing weather of Murree and Galyat on Saturday.
According to Interior Minister Sheikh Rasheed, 16 to 19 people died inside the automobiles buried by the snow.
As local governments crumbled in the face of the difficult circumstances, the Army dispatched five platoons as well as Rangers and Frontier Corps personnel to assist in the rescue operation.
Thousands of visitors have been stuck in Murree and Galyat as a result of heavy snowfall that has pounded the icy picnic areas, prompting the administration to block the Murree Road to all traffic.
The tourists who reached Murree and Galyat to enjoy winter’s snowfall have stuck there as more than 100,000 vehicles of the holidaymakers have created the worst kind of snarl at these hilly resorts.
Thousands of sightseers spent their night on roads, in their vehicles on Friday, calling for help. A great number of tourists are thronging these areas which are receiving heavy snowfall of the season becoming a big attraction for them. A huge number of tourists have taken the Murree and Galyat administrations off guard as roads and hotels have become fully packed.
In order to tackle the situation, the city administration has banned the entry of vacationers to Murree. It is allowing only ambulances and security and fire brigade vehicles to enter Murree.
At the deputy commissioner’s office in Rawalpindi, the administration has set up a control room.
Yasir Mehmood, a spokeswoman for the motorway police, said both the motorway and the National Highway Authority police were busy assisting the trapped tourists. He urged people to avoid making needless trips to Murree and to call the highway police’s helpline 130 with questions about their trip to the hilly areas.
Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid said that tourists flocked to Murree Galyat in such large numbers that the administration was unable to open the roads even after 12 hours.
According to the Minister, the administration is seeking assistance from the civil armed forces. He expressed regret to the stranded tourists who had gone for Murree the night before. He also pleaded with locals to assist the stranded vacationers. He added that he was personally monitoring all of the administration’s actions in this area.
In a tweet on Saturday, Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry also urged tourists to postpone their visits to the country’s higher regions, saying that a massive influx of vehicles was already heading to Murree and other locations. For the local administration, it is impossible to give services to a big number of tourists, he added.
Galyat Development Authority (GDA) spokesperson Ahsan Hameed in an official statement said on Friday that Galyat has a large number of tourists, so do not travel further.
In an interview with the media, Director General of the Abbottabad Galyat Development Authority Raza Habib stated that the Galyat region can only accommodate 20,000 tourists. However, around one lakh tourists have visited the area. He stated that all hotels are fully booked and that no additional rooms are available.
Tourists in Galyat should take precautions, according to a GDA official, because a route in Kandla is closed due to a landslide. It is not possible to clear the road immediately due to heavy snowfall, and improper parking on the side of the road is also a major cause of road blockade, according to Hameed.
He advised tourists to stay away from the area between Tauhidabad and Donga Gali.
Meanwhile, the hotel owners have extended free lodging and meals to the refugees stranded tourists.