Around six persons including a couple are feared dead as 40 tourists fell into an icy water channel in Pakistan administered Kashmir as the footbridge they were standing on collapsed Sunday.
According to officials, as many as 157 tourists, 70 of them students of TIPS College Faisalabad, 64 of them students of Sahiwal Medical College Sahiwal and 23 others, had arrived in Neelum valley on Thursday.
On Sunday, all three groups stopped by a picturesque site along the gushing JagranNullah, where a footbridge serves as means of crossing, to take selfies with emerald green water in the background.
According to Deputy Commissioner Neelum, Raja MahmoodShahid, the students not only ignored the warning on a signboard but also words of caution from the tour operator regarding the loading capacity of bridge, which led to the tragic incident.
Raja MubasherEjaz, a former adviser in the previous PPP government, who was incidentally present on the spot at that time, told Gretaer Kashmir that as soon as the coasters stopped, a first group of 20 to 25 people crossed the bridge to reach the right bank of the water channel.
Immediately, afterwards, a second group of more than 40 people followed, unmindful of the danger they had landed themselves in by putting heavy load on the pedestrian bridge, he said.
“I saw them prancing around, clapping, whistling and taking selfies, and all of a sudden the pillar-less bridge started shook and crumbled from the left side,” he said.
He said while some people rushed towards the opposite banks to safety or managed to clung on to the wooden bars, around 23 fell into the gushing water and were swept away by the violent current.
He said the local volunteers of PaK Red Crescent Society were the first to launch rescue operation even without any safety gear and recovered two bodies – a couple from Islamabad – from beneath the collapsed bridge and four of the tourists from a little ahead.
Afterwards, another seven persons were also recovered alive by the rescuers.
One of the survivors told reporters that he and one of his friends struggled to get hold of some rock in the stream and eventually succeeded, but others could not withstand the force of rapidly moving water and were flown away.
The deputy commissioner said that the survivors were provided treatment at a local health facility and five of them – identified as Waleed, 18, Anam, 18, IqraMazhar, 23, Alina Farhan, 22, and Ibrar, 28, – were airlifted to Shaikh Khalifa bin Zayed al Nahayan (SKZN) Hospital Muzaffarabad by an army helicopter.
However, they too were stable, he said.
He said five bodies were recovered from Neelum valley, and were identified as Abdul Rehman Saeed, Hammad and Shahzeb of TIPS College, Nadeem and his spouse IffatNadeem, residents of Islamabad, who had come under the aegis of Trackers Club Lahore.
He said the bodies had been dispatched to Muzaffarabad from Neelum at about 9pm after offering their funerals.
The body of MsResham of Sahiwal Medical College was recovered from Nauseri and brought to SKZN Hospital Muzaffarabad.
From Muzaffarabad, they would be sent to their respective areas by a helicopter on Monday, he said.
Those still missing were Ahmed Rashid and Moazzam of TIPS College, Amtal and Amina Kosar of Sahiwal Medical College, MrsFaizaNouman of Trackers Club Lahore and Saim, a Neelum valley resident.
Shahid said all other tourists had also been evacuated to Muzaffarabad where they would be offered accommodation by the government on Sunday night.
Neelum valley is one of the most attractive tourist locations in AJK, which draws hundreds of thousands of tourists from across the country, particularly in the scorching summers.
The area is, however, prohibited to foreign tourists because of its proximity to the heavily militarised Line of Control, the de facto border that splits the disputed Himalayan region between the nuclear-armed neighbours India and Pakistan.
Meanwhile, chief of the army staff (COAS) Gen QamarJavedBajwa expressed grief on loss of innocent lives in Neelum Valley bridge collapse accident.
According to a statement by the Inter Service Public Relations (ISPR), the COAS directed for all possible assistance to the civil admission for relief and rescue.
“Pakistan Army rescue and relief efforts [are] under way… [and] army troops along with doctors and paramedics have reached the incident site,” the statement said.
It said that two Pakistan army helicopters had flown SSG special divers to the incident site for search operation.
Many people on social media criticised the authorities over a lack of proper guidance to the tourists.
“The government has been squandering millions on unnecessary constructions but unfortunately, it cannot spare funds for projects, such as this bridge, involving safety and security of precious human lives,” wrote Faisal Jamil Kashmiri, a civil society activist, on his wall.
On July 7 last year, a tourist family from Rawalpindi was struck by a dreadful tragedy after three of its young members were swept away by the same violent stream, almost around the same spot.