MANSEHRA: Hundreds of passengers, who were stranded in Lower Kohistan following the blockade of Karakoram Highway at various points, left to their respective destinations after the Frontier Works Organisation cleared the artery to traffic on Sunday.

District police officer Zulfiqar Khan Jadoon told reporters that heavy rain lashed Upper and Lower Kohistan and Kolai-Palas districts on Saturday, triggering landslides that blocked the KKH in Shatan Pari, Qadar Abad and Gigal areas.

The FWO had moved machinery to clear the road of landslides.

Mr Jadoon said link roads, which were also blocked in Ranowalia, Gair, Dubair and Kolai-Palas were also cleared.

He said rainwater, which had entered a rural health centre in Ranowalia, had been pumped out.

Published in Dawn, August 16th, 2021