Chinese engineer among four killed in Neelum-Jhelum dam accident

Published December 24, 2014
Pakistani workers and Chinese engineers search the site after an accident at the Neelum-Jhelum Hydropower project intake site on December 24, 2014. – AFP
Pakistani workers and Chinese engineers search the site after an accident at the Neelum-Jhelum Hydropower project intake site on December 24, 2014. – AFP

MUZAFFARABAD: Four people including a Chinese engineer were killed Wednesday when a wall collapsed at a construction site for a major dam project in Pakistan-administered Kashmir, officials said.

The accident happened at the Neelum-Jhelum Hydropower project intake site 40 kilometres (25 miles) north of Muzaffarabad, the capital of the Pakistan-administered part of the disputed Himalayan territory.

“Four workers including a Chinese engineer were killed when a wall collapsed,” Sayed Asif Gardezi, a local administration official, told AFP.

He said a Chinese engineer and two other Pakistani workers were injured but they were out of danger. The incident was confirmed by local rescue officials.

China is one of Pakistan's main allies and there are thousands of Chinese engineers and other workers in Pakistan helping on infrastructure projects including nuclear power plants, dams and roads.

Last month Beijing promised Islamabad investment worth $42 billion over the coming years, much of it focused on the energy sector where Pakistan suffers chronic and economically damaging shortages. Industrial safety standards in Pakistan are poor and fatal accidents are common.

Opinion

Editorial

By-election trends
Updated 23 Apr, 2024

By-election trends

Unless the culture of violence and rigging is rooted out, the credibility of the electoral process in Pakistan will continue to remain under a cloud.
Privatising PIA
23 Apr, 2024

Privatising PIA

FINANCE Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb’s reaffirmation that the process of disinvestment of the loss-making national...
Suffering in captivity
23 Apr, 2024

Suffering in captivity

YET another animal — a lioness — is critically ill at the Karachi Zoo. The feline, emaciated and barely able to...
Not without reform
Updated 22 Apr, 2024

Not without reform

The problem with us is that our ruling elite is still trying to find a way around the tough reforms that will hit their privileges.
Raisi’s visit
22 Apr, 2024

Raisi’s visit

IRANIAN President Ebrahim Raisi, who begins his three-day trip to Pakistan today, will be visiting the country ...
Janus-faced
22 Apr, 2024

Janus-faced

THE US has done it again. While officially insisting it is committed to a peaceful resolution to the...