Quetta -  A wedding party that had gone missing in Balochistan Friday evening was found stuck in Bhatti area on Saturday, from where it was successfully evacuated to Nushki after hours-long daunting rescue operation.

Unfortunately, a kid died of freezing temperatures and six others fainted as the convoy of six vehicles, including a bus, carrying around 60 partygoers remained stuck on a dilapidated road amid torrential rains and chilly weather after it went missing on Friday from Zaro on their way from Chagai to Nushki.

Earlier, fears were expressed that the convoy members, including bride and groom, could have been kidnapped and taken to nearby Afghanistan as the area where they went missing is situated near the Pak-Afghan border.

A man who had managed to reach Nushki on foot said the vehicles could not move forward from Zaro due to the dilapidated state of the road, which was why he walked to Nushki to look for help. Winds followed by torrential rain had forced the wedding party to take refuge in two muddy rooms in Bati, some 80kms off Nushki.

The combined rescue mission involved district administration staff, Levies force, Balochistan Frontier Corps and Provincial Disaster Management Authority.

An ISPR statement issued earlier said that efforts were on to rescue the stranded but noted that an airlift was impossible as copters can’t fly in the extremely cloudy weather and snowfall.

The rescue teams had to reach the site on foot in murky and muddy conditions since the dilapidated roads in the area does not allow vehicles to reach easily.

After the rescuers traced the wedding party, they were evacuated to nearby hutments and provided medical assistance and food, according to PDMA and ISPR.

These rescue activities were supervised by Commander Southern Command Lt-Gen Aamir Riaz and IG FC Nadeem Anjum.

The PDMA lauded the locals who had joined hands with the rescuers and helped in evacuation of stranded persons from hutments to FC Zaro Post, from where they were later moved to Noshki.

Sharif Khan