GILGIT: Five tourists, including a woman and child, were killed and 10 others injured when a van plunged into a ravine on the Karakoram Highway near Gilgit on Wednesday.

According to GB tourist police, a tourist van carrying 15 persons from Karachi to Gilgit, plunged into a gorge in Rahimabad area while negotiating a turn. Five tourists lost lives on the spot. The names of the victims and injured couldn’t be ascertained.

GB tourist police, Rescue 1122 and local volunteers shifted the injured to the City Hospital, and Regional Headquarters Hospital, Gilgit. The condition of the injured is said to be out of danger. The police said the cause of the accident was over-speeding.

GB tourist police head Ishaq Hussain told Dawn that initial investigation suggested the driver was unaware of the nature of a hilly area road and was speeding.

Meanwhile, on orders of Chief Minister Khalid Khurshid, a bus and a coaster of Northern Areas Transport Organisation has been provided to transport the bodies and the injured to their home towns.

Meanwhile, Jaglote-Skardu Road was reopened to light traffic on Wednesday.

The road was blocked at multiple locations due to rain-triggered landslides, stranding a large number of tourists.

According to Frontier Work Organisation, all landslides on the road had been cleared and light traffic restored. It advised the tourists to check weather forecast before travelling to GB.

The Babusar Pass road has also been reopened to traffic after clearance of snow.

The road was closed after heavy snowfall at Babusar Top on Tuesday.

Published in Dawn, June 23rd, 2022