NEELUM VALLEY: Six members of the same family died on Friday when a car they were traveling in veered off the road and plunged into a deep gorge in Azad Jammu and Kashmir’s (AJK) Neelum Valley, rescue and administration officials confirmed.
According to rescuers, the accident occurred at a sharp turn on Neelum Valley Road near Chilyana village, some 50-km northeast of Muzaffarabad.
Neelum Valley District Disaster Management Officer (DDMO) Akhtar Ayoub informed the media that shortly after Friday prayers, a vehicle … went out of the driver’s control while negotiating a dangerous curve near Chilyana. “It veered off the road and rolled down the mountain slope but stopped just short of falling into the river,” he added.
Ayoub said that upon receiving reports about the incident, a Rescue 1122 emergency unit was immediately dispatched from the district headquarters in Athmuqam.
“Police personnel, army troops, and a large number of local residents also reached the scene and took part in the recovery operation,” he said.
During the operation, the bodies of five women and one man were recovered and transported by Rescue 1122 to a nearby army unit in Nauseri, where they were identified and handed over to the bereaved family, Ayoub outlined.
According to Ayoub, the deceased hailed from Botha Tanda, a village on the outskirts of Muzaffarabad, and were on their way to Jura town in the valley to visit relatives.
They were identified as Ameer Khan, 65; his wife, Gulshan Bibi, 50; his daughters, Naima Bibi, 23, and Mishal Bibi, 21; and his relatives, Sundas, 27, and Halima Basheer, 27.
Meanwhile, AJK Prime Minister Chaudhry Anwarul Haq, Legislative Assembly Speaker Chaudhry Latif Akbar, Minister for Law Mian Abdul Waheed, and PML-N regional president Shah Ghulam Qadir expressed deep sorrow over the tragic loss of lives.
In their condolence messages, they extended sympathies to the bereaved family and urged motorists to exercise extra caution while driving on the region’s mountainous roads.
In May, an assistant director, three inspectors and a constable of the AJK police lost their lives when their vehicle plunged into a deep ravine in the Poonch division.
According to a statement from the central control room, a police pickup truck was travelling along the Toli Pir–Lasdanna Road when the tragic accident occurred around 6:30pm near a place known as Chatti Dhok.
