GILGIT, Jan 8: Five more children have fallen victim to pneumonia in the bitter cold in the Northern Areas. Gultari District Council Member Fida Hussain told an emergency press conference that the death of five children, including a girl of 18, took the death toll to 47 in the affected area of Gultari Sector of the Baltistan region.

He attributed the increasing number of deaths to cold snap and lack of proper medical facilities in the area.

Mr Ali said his constituencies remained cut off from the other parts of the region for six months in winter season, as heavy snowfall blocked land routes leading to the areas near the Line of Control.

He said locals could not reach the neighbouring Skardu and Gilgit cities for medical facilities due to those blockades.

Temperature in the Gultari area, he said, had dropped to minus 30 Celsius and it was very difficult for the people to face these harsh weather without proper arrangements and necessary medicines.

The people of the area hold the district administration and health department responsible for the deaths of their 47 children. They alleged that they (the administration and health department) had not provided sufficient stock of medicines during the summer season to the Gultari area and their children died because of the shortage of drugs.

Official sources said they had dispatched a child specialist doctor, other staff and necessary medicines to the affected area through army helicopters, as the area had no road linkage between the Skardu and Gultari due to heavy snowfall.

Mr Ali has appealed to President General Pervez Musharraf and force commander of the Northern Areas for taking necessary steps to prevent more deaths.

He demanded that the seriously ill children should be shifted through army helicopters to the down country hospitals.

The region is in the grip of severe cold which is instrumental in spreading pneumonia.