Avalanche blocks road at Ziarat, hundreds stranded

DROSH, March 7: Due to an avalanche, the Chitral-Peshawar road was blocked at Ziarat on Saturday. As a result, hundreds of passengers, including women and children, are stranded under the open sky in the freezing cold. The unavailability of hotels and any other shelters has added to the suffering of the passengers. Our correspondent GH Farooqui from Ziarat, reported at 9pm that due to the negligence of the NHA staff, the tunnel could not be opened on time on Saturday morning. The NHA also failed to remove snow from the road. The avalanche blocked the road at Ziarat later in the day and about 400 vehicles were stranded on both sides of the point. Mr Farooqui said that still there was snowfall and also the danger of more avalanches in the area. As night fell, there were no efforts on part of any government department to rescue the passengers who were waiting there under sub-zero temperature.]]>