ABBOTTABAD: A woman and her two children died of suffocation caused by a gas heater in Dobhatter village here on the night between Saturday and Sunday.

According to relatives, Raheela Bibi, 25, was sleeping in a room along with her sons, Ibrahim, 3, and one-and-a-half-year-old Irzam.

A gas heater, which the woman had lighted to keep the room warm, caused suffocation, claiming the lives of the three.

The other family members found them dead in the morning.

Meanwhile, the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Highway Authority (KPHA) has failed to clear snow from the main road three days after the snowfall, creating problems to tourists visiting Nathiagali, Donga Gali, Ayubia and other tourist spots in Galyat.

Although the Galiyat Development Authority (GDA) made efforts to remove snow from the Abbottabad-Murree Road on the request of KPHA, only one-way traffic could be restored from Bara Gali to Nathiagali and onward to Donga Gali and Ayubia.

Due to single track and slippery road, a large number of vehicles collided with each other, while long queues of vehicles were seen on both side of the road.

DPO Abbottabad Ashfaq Anwar has deputed additional police with traffic squad to keep the road open for traffic.

GDA officials, when contacted, made it clear that the KPHA was moving slow to award contract for removing snow from the road, which multiplied miseries of tourists and locals.

They said the police with the help of GDA staff had not only cleared the roads but also evacuated the stranded tourists from Galyat.

Published in Dawn, December 18th, 2017