PESHAWAR  -   At least four people including two real brothers were killed when an avalanche hit them in district Chitral.

Momin and Amirzada, sons of Khaista Khan; Saad Malook, son of Bahadur and Usman, son of Gul Muhammad, were trapped under an avalanche at 4pm on Saturday at Goren Gol Shishikoh area when they were on their way to carry their goats from pasture.

Locals said that a thick mass of snow fell on them when they were going back home. Rescue 1122, police and locals rushed to the site to retrieve the bodies from beneath the glacier. All the victims were residents of Kautai village.

According to Provincial Disaster Management Authority, operation was underway to recover remaining three bodies.

Assistant Commissioner Drosh Abdul Wali Khan is supervising the operation. Chitral Levies, police, Rescue 1122 personnel and local volunteers were engaged to recover the bodies.

APP adds: The bodies of four missing persons under heavy avalanche were recovered after several hours operation.

Director General Rescue 1122, Dr Khateer Ahmad said that all the four bodies were recovered by rescue officials after crossing the toughest and narrow terrain by foot for three hours and reached at the sight of the incident situated at high altitude of 10,000 feet above sea level.

He said the missing persons were trapped under three feet heavy mass of snow spread over about two kilo miters square feet.

Earlier, Deputy Commissioner said that four people had gone missing in an avalanche that hit them in a very far-off area of Shishi Koh valley on Saturday. These belonged to Gujar tribe.

The four had gone to a grazing ground to bring their animals back when the avalanche hit the area.

The meadow is located at Goren Gol at the confluence of Dogdara, which touches the boundaries of Upper Dir and Chitral districts.

FWO reopens Karakoram
Highway

Frontier Works Organisation (FWO) has cleared the road for traffic and removed the debris after four days of blockage caused by the landsliding at Karakoram Highway (KKH) Lower Kohistan.

Thousands of vehicles were stuck after the landsliding triggered by heavy downpour from Pattan to Sholgara at Lower Kohistan, said the officials.

KKH not only provides link between Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Gilgit-Baltistan but it is also the only land connection with China which remained suspended for the last four days.

FWO reopened the KKH after a struggle of four days which eased the traffic issues of GB and Kohistan areas of Khyber Phaktunkhwa.

Thousands of vehicles and stranded passengers have now left for their respective destinations across the country.

Avalanche kills four in Chitral