MANSEHRA: Three tourists from Rawalpindi drowned while two others were rescued by local people when their car skidded off the road and fell into the Kunhar River in Kaghan valley on Sunday.

“Local people have rescued two of the five tourists after their car plunged into the Kunhar River. Search is in progress to recover bodies of the remaining three,” said Balakot DSP Matloob Shah while speaking to media persons.

He said that the incident occurred in Bonja area when the driver lost control over steering. Afterwards, the local people and those travelling on the Mansehra-Naran-Jalkhad road rescued two of them while three persons drowned.

Mr Shah said that tourists belonging to the Stadium Double Road area in Rawalpindi were returning to their native city after two-day stay in the valley when the incident occurred.

He said that Tanveer Abbasi, who was driving the car, and Zeeahan Abbasi were rescued and taken to King Abdullah Teaching Hospital in Mansehra. He said that those who drowned were identified as Waleed Abbasi, 24, Rahat Khan, 23, and Mohammad Danish, 25. He said that local people and police were searching for their bodies.

“Nobody can survive in such cold, deep water and we are doing our best to fish out the drowned people,” he said, adding the two injured were in a good health.

Such incidents of people drowning in the Kunhar River are common in the tourism season. Deputy chief of Jamaat-i- Islami, Sindh, Nasrullah Shaji and a student of his school in Karachi had drowned in Kunhar River in July last year and their bodies could not be found afterwards.

LG ELECTIONS: Pakistan Tehreek -i-Insaf and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz have been making claims to win majority of seats of the district and tehsil wards/councils as electioneering has gained momentum in Mansehra district.

Over 4,700 candidates are in the running for the LG elections in Mansehra district and the number is record for any such elections held in the district so far. The contestants also include 377 women vying for different seats in the district.

The PML -N and PTI both are leading the other political parties in terms of fielding the highest number of candidates.

“Our government has ended corruption culture in the province and introduced revolutionary changes in the health and education sectors and now people would enjoy the benefits,” claimed Taimur Saleem Swati, PTI candidate for tehsil council of Mansehra. Waqas  Raza, the PML-N candidate for tehsil council, told a corner meeting that his party would sweep the elections as it had launched several development projects in Mansehra district.

Published in Dawn, May 25th, 2015

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