The authorities have removed snow from all the major roads to normalise traffic at Murree hill station a day after tragic deaths of 23 stranded tourists, Punjab’s traffic police said on Sunday.
In a statement, a spokesperson for the Punjab police said that all the key arteries of the city have been cleared to traffic. Lawrence College Road and a section of the road between Jhika Gali and Lower Topa Express Highway have been reopened for traffic, he added.
The spokesperson, however, said that roads leading to Murree from Islamabad and Rawalpindi will remain closed today. Police have been deployed on the roads to stop tourists from moving towards the hill station amid the current weather situation.
During the last 24 hours, over 500 families have been shifted to safe sites from the snowfall-affected Murree, the police said, adding that over 600 vehicles have been evacuated from the hill station till last night.
Meanwhile, sharing a video of Murree on his Twitter handle, Special Assistant to Prime Minister (SAPM) Shahbaz Gill confirmed that all key arteries of the hill station have been cleared to traffic.
Paying tribute to the personnel of the Pakistan Army, officials of the district administration, Rawalpindi police and the local volunteers for clearing the roads overnight, Gill said that 600 to 700 vehicles had been evacuated from the hill station till last night (Saturday).
MURREE DSP: In a statement, Murree’s DSP traffic said that all stranded tourists were rescued last night. He, too, confirmed that all roads in Murree have been cleared of snow.
The police officer said that the vehicles stuck in snow have been shifted to safe sites, adding that they have been facing difficulty in removing snow from the roads due to the vehicles. The road between Klidna and Barian will be reopened for traffic today, he added.
ARMY OPERATION: Following the government’s decision to deploy Army and other civil-armed forces for rescue operations in snow-hit Murree, the army rescued more than 300 people, including children, the Inter-Services Public Relation (ISPR) said.
The rescued people were provided medical care by a team of army doctors and paramedics, the military’s media wing had said.
According to a statement, cooked meals had been served to more than 1,000 stranded people in Jhika Gali, Kashmiri Bazar, Lower Topa and Kuldana.
ISPR had said that the stranded people had been accommodated and provided shelter with meals and tea at Military College Murree, Supply Depot, APS and Army Logistics School Kuldana.
