GILGIT (The Thursday Times) — Heavy snow at the Khunjerab Pass on the Pakistan-China border left passengers, tourists, vehicles, and dozens of cargo containers carrying goods from China stranded for hours on Friday, as snow and rain continued across Gilgit-Baltistan.
Three containers reportedly skidded off the Karakoram Highway after the road turned slippery, and their drivers were rescued. Gilgit-Baltistan police said a Chinese container overturned on the snow-covered road; local travellers and Khunjerab Security Police personnel pulled the driver out unhurt.
Police said snow was still falling from Dhee to Khunjerab Top. They advised tourists and travellers to avoid the route until conditions improved, and to call the police helpline, 15, before setting out.
Gilgit-Baltistan’s tourism minister, Naiknaam Karim, was among those stranded. In a video message, he said the road on the Chinese side had been cleared after snowfall there, but on the Pakistani side Khunjerab Top was covered in about four inches of snow and ice, and two or three cars had skidded. He appealed to the Frontier Works Organisation to send machinery at once to prevent further accidents.
Stranded passengers said the altitude, more than 15,000 feet, made the wait harder because of the risk of low oxygen.
The Ghizer-Shandur road was also closed to all traffic after a landslide triggered by heavy rain on Thursday night.
On Thursday evening, 11 people were killed when a passenger van plunged into the Yasin River in Ghizer district.
