MUZAFFARABAD, Aug 2 Five students of a religious seminary were killed after a mosque they took refuge in was swept away along with other buildings by a raging torrent in a Neelum valley village on Saturday evening.
The victims, aged between eight and 12, had just crossed a stream running through Dawarian Bala village, some 100 kms northeast of here, and entered a mosque for Magrib prayers when suddenly a cloudburst unloaded vast amount of water which wiped out the mosque, SP Neelum Raja Shafqat Tanvir told Dawn by telephone on Sunday.
As a result all five boys, who were students of Madressah Anwaarul Aloom, were killed. They were identified as Mohammad Sadaqat, Khalid Rana, Akram Mir, Qasim Deen and Akhtar Javed. Another student, Tahir Rana, who was still on the other side of water channel managed to escape but was injured, the SP said.
“Had the vast amount of water reached Dawarian only after 10 minutes the physical loss would have been colossal as nearly 40 other seminary students and their teachers were on their way to the mosque for prayers,” he said.
Apart from the mosque, four shops and a 10-kilowatt hydropower station were also knocked down while the water channels of three micro powerhouses were badly damaged, he said.
The torrent also swept away a private jeep moments after its fearful inmates jumped out and climbed the mountainside to save their lives, the SP said. River Neelum flows hardly 50 yards away from the site of tragic incident.
Since the span of the water channel had also widened due to the cloudburst, traffic on main Neelum valley road which passes through it in Dawarian village remained suspended until the earth removing machines filled the gaps on Sunday. So far no bodies had been recovered.
