MANSEHRA: Residents of the Dubair and Ranowali areas of Lower Kohistan district on Tuesday blocked the Karakoram Highway after a man slipped from a wooden bridge and drowned in a swollen stream.

“Police and Rescue 1122 personnel recovered the body from the stream and shifted it to a health facility,” Lower Kohistan district police officer Zafar Ahmad told reporters.

The police said Mohammad Yusuf, 22, and his brother were crossing the wooden bridge when he fell into the stream, which swelled after the spillways of the Dubair-Khawar power station’s reservoir were opened to release excess water.

The police said Yusuf’s brother also jumped into the stream to save him, but to no avail. Residents managed to rescue Yusuf’s brother.

Yusuf’s body was later recovered from near the reservoir,” a Rescue 1122 official said.

Following the incident, the relatives of the deceased and residents placed the body at the China Bridge and blocked the Karakoram Highway.

The protesters demanded the registration of an FIR against the Water and Power Development Authority, alleging that the makeshift bridge recently erected by the district administration on the stream was damaged after the reservoir’s spillways were opened.

They said they would continue the blockade until a case was registered against Wapda.

“Wapda has yet to reconstruct the Dubair-Ranowali Road, which was washed away in the 2023 flash floods, and this incident has further fuelled public anger,” a protester said.

Published in Dawn, July 8th, 2026