July 20, 2003	Sunday	Jumadi-ul-Awwal 19, 1424

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KARAK, July 19: An overloaded truck that had broken down inside the Kohat tunnel on Thursday night, blocking the one-way traffic for about 12 hours, was fixed on Friday morning.

It was the first breakdown inside the tunnel since the project was opened for vehicular traffic on June 16.

The truck going to Peshawar had halted some 30 meters inside the tunnel at the Darra Adamkhel end, sending shock-waves down the spine of the company responsible for the project operation.

Officials on both sides of the tunnel coordinated their efforts through wireless sets to keep the traffic going on the one lane.

“We are fortunate enough that the breakdown occurred at night when there was very thin traffic on this road,” said an official on the spot, while trying to manage the traffic on the Darra side.

According to him, they had successfully controlled the traffic for five hours since the truck broke down inside the subway at 9.35pm.

It could be difficult in the morning when there happens a rush of vehicles on the tunnel route, he remarked, adding that the truck could not be pulled out of the tunnel as it had halted neither close to an emergency area nor reached the end of the tunnel. Coming from the Kohat side, three emergency areas have been provided for inside the tunnel for vehicles that develop fault, while two are on the Darra-Kohat lane.