MUZAFFARABAD: Rescuers from the armed forces and civilian departments along with local volunteers struggled throughout the day on Monday to retrieve the remaining bodies of the victims of Sunday’s tragedy in Neelum Valley but could find only one, officials said.

As many as 22 tourists, mostly students from Punjab, and a local resident were swept away by the currents of Jagran Nullah in Kundal Shahi area of Neelum Valley after a footbridge they and several others were standing on tumbled down due to overweight.

Eleven of them were rescued alive but 12 others could not survive. Of them, bodies of six were retrieved by Sunday evening.

They were brought to Shaikh Khalifa bin Zayed al Nahayan Hospital in Muzaffarabad on Sunday where the bodies of a couple from Islamabad were received by their relatives at 3:30am on Monday. The remaining four bodies and the five injured were shifted to Rawalpindi at about 10am in an army chopper.

The seventh body – that of Fozia Nouman, a newlywed from Lahore – was recovered hardly a furlong away from the collapsed bridge at 9am on Monday after the rescue operation was resumed by divers and volunteers from Navy, SSG, Rescue 1122, Red Crescent and local residents. It was handed over to the heirs at about 4pm in Muzaffarabad.

Deputy Commissioner Neelum Raja Mahmood Shahid told Dawn that there had not been any success in retrieving any other body till sunset after which the rescue operation had to be suspended due to darkness.

According to an official handout, the AJK government announced a token compensation of Rs200,000 for the heirs of each deceased and Rs50,000 for the injured persons.

Meanwhile, a former AJK minister and leader of the main opposition PPP on Monday blamed “dereliction of duty, improvidence and ineptitude” on the part of the administration and police for the tragedy.

Separately, the civil society called for strict criteria for registration of tour operators who were bringing hordes of tourists from downstream areas without any proper orientation of hilly tourist destinations.

Mian Abdul Waheed of the PPP claimed that he had forewarned the administration against the likelihood of a disaster at the site but to no avail.

Talking to Dawn, he said: “Not too long ago, I had cautioned the administration to take precautionary measures at this site in particular and others in general or else any disaster could hardly be averted.”

“It’s the responsibility of the concerned authorities, mainly the civil administration, to take requisite precautionary measures to save the lives of visitors, unmindful of the hazards in the area,” he added.

Published in Dawn, May 15th, 2018