MANSEHRA: Hundreds of passengers travelling between Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Gilgit-Baltistan were stranded after flash floods and mudslides blocked the Karakoram Highway at various points in Lower Kohistan district on Monday.

“Floods caused by heavy rain brought mud and boulders from nearby mountains onto the KKH at three places in the Dubair area, blocking the artery,” an official of Rescue 1122 told reporters.

The upper parts of the Hazara division, including Mansehra, Torghar, Upper Kohistan, Lower Kohistan, and Kolai-Palas, received heavy rainfall. Heavy winds and hailstorms also hit parts of the region, uprooting trees and blocking roads.

The KKH, which had been blocked to traffic following landslides at two points in Lower Kohistan on Sunday night, was cleared the next morning but was again hit by floodwaters carrying boulders and mud.

Upper parts of Hazara including Kaghan Valley receive heavy rainfall

The upper parts of Kaghan, Siren, and Konsh valleys also received heavy rainfall, triggering landslides that blocked roads connecting hundreds of villages with the KKH and the Mansehra-Naran-Jalkhad Road.

Meanwhile, the Hazara division commissioner has taken notice of the delay in the clearance of snow from the MNJ Road and directed the Balakot assistant commissioner to speed up the clearance process so that the tourism season could begin in the Kaghan Valley before Eidul Azha.

“We have been expecting a heavy influx of tourists on Eid, but the National Highway Authority has cleared the MNJ Road only for one-way traffic up to Lolusar Lake,” Balakot AC Hasrat Khan told reporters on Monday.

He said that though NHA had set a May 19 deadline for clearance of MNJ Road up to Babusar Top, heavy snow might delay the resumption of traffic between KP and GB by another week.

“I visited the upper parts of Kaghan Valley and witnessed the removal of snow from the MNJ Road near Lulusar Lake, as the government wants an early reopening of traffic between KP and GB,” Mr Khan said.

He said the track connecting Kaghan Valley with Saiful Muluk Lake had already been cleared for four-wheel vehicles.

ROAD ACCIDENT: A man was killed, and another sustained critical injuries when a loaded truck fell into a ravine after brake failure on the KKH here on Monday.

“We shifted the body to a nearby health facility after retrieving it from the wreckage of the truck,” a Rescue 1122 official said.

The truck was on its way to GB from Rawalpindi. The deceased was identified as Ijaz Ahmad, who was sitting by the roadside when he was hit by the truck.

According to rescuers, the truck driver, Mohammad Aqash, who jumped out of the vehicle before it fell into the ravine, also sustained critical injuries and was rushed to the health facility.

The police lodged an FIR into the incident.

Published in Dawn, May 12th, 2026