MANSEHRA: Four people were killed in separate incidents here on Monday with two dying in road accidents and as many losing life by drowning in the rivers.

A man was killed and four suffered injuries when a jeep fell into a deep ravine in Terhana area of Balakot tehsil.

The accident occurred as the driver lost control of the jeep carrying passengers on the way from Terhana area to Balakot.

The residents shifted the injured to the tehsil headquarters hospital, whose doctors pronounced Mohammad Sadiq, 42, dead and referred the injured, including Hassan Jan, 70, Ghulam Rabbani, 50, Owais Ghulam, 25, and Sania Shaukat, 7, to the Ayub Medical Complex, Abbottabad.

In another incident, a 10th grader drowned in the Kunhar River in Garhi Habibullah area here.

The incident occurred in Hasari area as Mohammad Dildar was bathing in the river to beat the heat.

The teenage boy was swept away after the river swelled. Rescue 1122 said its divers were searching for the body.

Also, a teenage British-Pakistani national drowned in the Kunhar River near Balakot tehsil. Witnesses said Alishba, 14, slipped into the river while taking a selfie. They said the body was fished out afterwards.

Meanwhile, a man was run over and killed by a speeding car in Channia area of Mansehra city.

Witnesses said Abdullah Shakeel was knocked down by the car as he was crossing the Abbottabad Road near the Fauji Foundation health centre.

They said the boy died on the way to the King Abdullah Teaching Hospital.

DENGUE, MALARIA OUTBREAKS: The residents of Oghi tehsil and adjoining areas have feared the outbreak of mosquito-borne diseases in the region after the recent flash floods.

“If our tehsil is not immediately fumigated by the health department and tehsil municipal administration, malaria and dengue will break out,” chairman of the Oghi neighbourhood council Dr Wajid Ali told reporters on Monday.

He said the flash floods inundated Oghi, Charbagh, Shamdara, Khatai and their outskirts, so those areas were vulnerable to dengue and malaria outbreaks.

Dr Wajid said the health department should destroy mosquito-breeding grounds before it was too late.

Meanwhile, Jamaat-i-Islami deputy emir Liaquat Baloch on Monday said if the people wanted an end to political turmoil and record inflation in the country, they should vote for “sincere and patriotic” political parties.

“For a true socioeconomic and political change in the country, people should vote us [Jamaat-i-Islami] to power,” Mr Baloch told party workers here.

Published in Dawn, Aug 1st, 2023