MUZAFFARABAD: Two members of the Tableeghi Jamaat and their local driver drowned while two were recovered alive after their jeep plunged into Neelum River in the upper belt of Neelum Valley on Monday, police said.

Bashir Hussain, an official at the police post in Kel, told Dawn that 12 members of the Jamaat were heading towards Taobutt, the last village of Neelum valley, in a jeep they had hired on rent in Kel, some 155km northeast of Muzaffarabad, at 11:45am.

After more than 15km near a spot known as Janawai Doga the vehicle failed to ascend a steep portion of road, following which eight members disembarked from it on the request of the driver while the remaining four stayed on board, the official said.

However, while moving upwards the vehicle went out of the driver’s control and plunged into the NeelumRiverthat zigzags all along the treacherous road, he added.

As a result, three persons, including the driver, were swept away by the violent current, he said, while the remaining two were recovered alive with injuries.

Those who had drowned were identified as driver Abdul Rashid, Mohammad Shahbaz and lyas Mahmood, residents of Lahore.

Of them, the body of Mahmood had been found after it floated one kilometre downstream but the other two were yet to be recovered till the filing of this report at 8pm.

Those who were rescued were Sufaid Alam and Abdullah Jan, residents of Lahore and Bannu, respectively.

They were admitted to a local health facility.

Road accidents are being reported frequently from different parts of AJK, and are blamed mostly on faulty and outmoded vehicles or careless driving.

On June 21, five tourists from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa were killed and another 11 injured after their vehicle had plunged into a ravine along the Neelum Valley road, some 10km from here, allegedly due to the negligence of driver.

Published in Dawn, June 26th, 2018