Death toll trapped in car due to blizzard in Pakistan rises to 22

ISLAMABAD – At least 22 people, including 10 children, died in the popular mountain resort town of Pakistan after being stuck in their vehicle all night while snowstorm great hit the territory.

Officials said most of the victims died of hypothermia.

“Among them is an Islamabad police officer and seven members of his family,” said fellow police officer Atiq Ahmed NBC News, Sunday (9/1/2022).

Pakistan’s Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed said more than 4 feet of snow fell in the Murree Hills resort area on Friday night and Saturday morning, trapping thousands of cars on the highway.

“The snow was so severe that the heavy equipment brought in to clear it initially jammed at night,” said Umar Maqbool, assistant commissioner for the city of Murree. The temperature dropped to -8 degrees Celsius.

Local officials then called in paramilitary forces and special mountain military units to help. By Saturday night, thousands of vehicles had been pulled out of the snow but more than a thousand were still trapped, Ahmed said.

Also read: Blizzard hits Pakistan resort, 16 dead trapped in car

Maqbool said most of the roads leading to resorts in the area were mostly cleared of snow on Saturday evening, and military forces were working to clear the rest.

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