QUETTA: Five local tourists, including two brothers, were killed and two others injured when their vehicle plunged into a deep stream in the mountainous Ziarat Valley.

Officials said the group, consisting of nine young men, was travelling on a treacherous road to reach the popular picnic spot Dozakh Tangi on Wednesday when the accident occurred.

“The vehicle slipped off the road and fell around one hundred feet into a roadside stream,” Levies officials said on Thursday. “Five individuals died on the spot, and two others were seriously injured.”

Levies personnel rushed to the scene and, with assistance from local residents, recovered the bodies and rescued the injured, who were shifted to the district hospital in Ziarat.

The deceased picnickers — identified as Rahimuddin, Najamuddin, Abdullah, Muhammad Azam, and Abdul Malik — hailed from the Pashtoonabad area of Quetta. Hospital authorities handed over the bodies to their families after completing medico-legal formalities.

The perilous road, which connects Ziarat Valley with Harnai district, has been the site of numerous tragic accidents, Levies officials said.

Published in Dawn, July 19th, 2024