Jeep fell into Neelum River claiming lives of three tourists, leaving four seriously injured & other six missing

NEELUM, May 1 (SABAH): A jeep carrying 13 people on Monday plunged into the Neelum River in the Azad Jammu and Kashmir, claiming lives of at least three tourists, leaving four seriously injured while six passengers were still missing. Rescue operation was underway for remaining six passengers.

According to media reports, 11, among the total 13 present in the ill-fated four-wheeler, were tourists from Lahore, who are stated to belong to a same family.

The police and Pakistan Army’s soldiers were conducting a joint rescue operation to search for the missing passengers in the Neelum River. The police and army personnel were facing difficulties during rescue operation due to a rapid flow of river due to rainfall in the area.

The jeep was coming from Taobutt, the last village of Neelum Valley, to the town of Kel, located some 156 kilometers northeast of Muzaffarabad, when it met the tragedy at a curve ahead of Phulawai bazaar, some 21 KM away from its destination.

Akhtar Ayub, the district disaster management officer in Neelum said that there is a rapid flow of river due to rainfall in the area and added it was not easy to search the lost vehicle.

He further said that the vehicle fell from the height that some of its parts were lying on the other side of the river. The injured have been shifted to Kel Hospital for medical assistance. Their condition is reported to be stable.

The tourists who injured include M. Hussain, Muhammad Zameer, Moeen Ahmed, Ibrahim, Rafiq while who were missing include Umair, Shah Nawaz, Maqsood, Azhar, Ashraf, Bilal, Ghulam Meeran, Zeehan, Waleed, Rafiq and Raheem.

Locals of the areas rescued the injured and they were shifted to Kel through loader jeeps because of unavailability of ambulance. The accident occurred due to dilapidated condition of road.

A resident of the area told media that locals were informed of the incident through the announcement in the mosques after passage of almost two-and-half hour and they reached the venue of incident because there was no telephone service in the area.