Horror Of Blizzard In Pakistan Mountains Kills 22 Tourists In Traffic, 'We Got No Warning'

Illustration of a resort in Swat, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan (Photo by farzeen bait on Unsplash)

JAKARTA - Gloomy skies in Pakistan. The country mourns when 22 people who wanted to vacation in Pakistan's popular mountain resorts ended up in death. When it snows, it causes severe traffic jams and the victim freezes to death in the car.

"We didn't get any warning from the public, from the government, from Google, from the news, from the weather," said Duaa Kashif Ali, 18, a tourist from Islamabad as quoted by Channel News Asia, Sunday 9 January.

"The locals are helping us," he said.

The city perched on a mountain -- 70 km northeast of Islamabad -- is well-known as a favorite destination for tourists. They came here specifically to see the scenery covered in fresh snowfall.

There were so many people who wanted to come, traffic to the location was badly congested. It is estimated that there are tens of thousands of people who intend to come.

And suddenly the horror came when 1,000 vehicles were still stranded due to traffic jams. Blizzards shed snow from Friday onwards.

Stuck in their cars overnight, 22 people died from cold or carbon monoxide poisoning from exhaust fumes. Among them were 10 children.

"People here literally cry ... when they hear," recalls 47-year-old tourist Kashif Ishaq.

As he spoke, a convoy of giant heavy machinery cleared the ice-covered streets behind him, ending two days of snow-covered isolation for the satellite village of Ratti Gali.

The snowfall, which began on Tuesday night, continues at regular intervals, attracting thousands of tourists. Due to a large number of visitors, many families ended up stranded on the road.

Local media reported that more than 100,000 vehicles entered the hill station. Videos shared on social media showed the entire family, including children, lying dead in their snow-covered vehicle.

"Was the death caused by the flu or carbon monoxide (CO) poisoning?" asked Dr. Faheem Yonus, head of infectious diseases at the University of Maryland UCH, in a tweet.

"CO is odorless, deadly if a dead car is buried in snow, a clogged exhaust (silencer) can quickly kill passengers when they inhale CO," he explained.