CHITRAL: A boy and her sister were killed here the other day when they were hit by a falling boulder from a hillock while on way to take matriculation examination here.

A police official told Dawn that Afsar Khan and his sister, Zakira Bibi of Runi village were struck by boulders at Garam Chashma road. They were coming to Government High School, Shoghore for taking the examinations.

The official said other students accompanying the victims saved their lives by running away from the spot. The two bodies were taken to their village where they were buried later.

Meanwhile, the Chitral-Garam Chashma road and other roads leading to valleys of Terich, Torkhow, Yarkhun and Laspur remained blocked due to landslides caused by the recent heavy rains.

VISIT CANCELLED: An American hunter had to cancel his scheduled arrival due to the inclement weather. He had hired a chartered plane for the purpose.

The divisional forest officer of wildlife division, Chitral, Imtiaz Hussain told Dawn that the American had obtained permit worth 103,000 million US dollars to hunt kashmir markhor in Toshi Shasha conservancy.

He said the hunting would be rescheduled as per the programme of the permit holder next month.

He said the permit could be cancelled due to engagements of the hunter, which would cause great financial loss to the local community.

Mr Hussain said 80 per cent of the amount of permit fee went to the local community to be spent on development projects through village conservation committees.

The official said the idea of settin up VCCs worked well in conservation of wildlife as local people volunteered to protect the wildlife from being poached.