MUZAFFARABAD: A bride and an infant were among five people who lost their lives after their car plunged into Neelum River at the border of Neelum and Muzaffarabad districts on Sunday reportedly due to some technical fault.

The groom and three children survived with critical injuries, police said.

The accident occurred near Chhakkar Nakka village, about 41 kilometres northeast of here in the jurisdiction of Panjgran police at about 11am, said Station House Officer (SHO) Mir Muzammil Hussain.

The vehicle with the newlywed couple and two adults and five minors aged between six months and five years on board was returning from Bata village, where the marriage was contracted, to Ambore refugee camp on the outskirts of Muzaffarabad from where thebaraat[wedding party] had started its journey in the small hours.

Except for the groom and his police constable cousin who was behind the wheel, the rest belonged to the bride’s family.

As the vehicle was passing through a landslide affected portion of the road, which was devoid of parapets or galvanised guardrail towards the riverside, it went out of the driver’s control and plunged into Neelum River.

Before the vehicle dived into the icy river and disappeared, all those on board were thrown onto the steep slope up to the riverbank or else there would have been no survivors, said SHO Hussain.

He said the marks of tyres on the road suggested that the driver had applied brakes several feet before the spot from where the vehicle fell down following some technical fault, but it did not work.

Rescuers who descended down to the riverbank found the 19-year-old bride Safina Latif, driver Nadeem Khan, 32, Amna, 24, wife of Mohammad Saleem and Shagufta, 30, wife of Mohammad Ayaz dead on the spot and remaining five alive with multiple wounds.

The injured, who were identified as 22-year-old groom Owais Khan, six-month-old Insha, daughter of Mr Saleem, Aima, 5, and Aimal, 2, daughters of Mr Ayaz, and Noor, 5, daughter of Abdul Qadeer, were shifted to the Combined Military Hospital Muzaffarabad where Insha succumbed to her wounds.

The condition of the groom was also critical as he had been put on a ventilator.

Expressing grief over the loss of lives, AJK Prime Minister Sardar Tanveer Ilyas said in a tweet: “… theaccident has endorsed my emphasis on urgent and effective implementation of Road Traffic Safety Measures in AJK where, sadly, the havoc wreaked by road accidents has been colossal.”

Later in a statement, he said he had issued directions to the highway department to prepare and implement schemes for construction of safety walls along all arteries, particularly those running through the dangerous areas.

Published in Dawn, July 18th, 2022