Pakistan: 22 Dead After Heavy Snow Traps Thousands in Vehicles

At least 22 people died in an icy traffic jam near Muree, Pakistan, from Friday to Saturday after tens of thousands of cars became trapped on snowy roads while clamoring to enter the mountain resort town during a blizzard, Pakistan’s Dawn newspaper reported on Sunday.

“To enjoy snowfall, tens of thousands of people thronged Punjab’s hill town of Murree but a large number of vehicles [became] stranded in snow on Friday night [January 7] and 22 people died,” according to Dawn.

“Eight of them froze to death in their cars and others probably died from asphyxiation after inhaling exhaust fumes in snow-bound vehicles,” the publication speculated on January 9.

Muree is located in the Rawalpindi district of Pakistan’s Punjab state roughly 18 miles northeast of Islamabad, the Pakistani national capital. Rawalpindi District Police issued a notice on January 5 warning Muree-bound tourists “the town had a parking capacity of nearly 3,500 vehicles while over 80,000 vehicles had entered Murree in the last two days,” according to Dawn.

Muree experienced a “normal” amount of snowfall from January 5 to January 8, according to the Pakistan Meteorological Department, which reported Muree as receiving 6.5 inches of snow on January 5, 8.5 inches on January 6, and a combined 16.5 inches of snow from January 7 through the morning of January 8.

The fresh snowfall tragically attracted an unusually high number of tourists who flocked to Muree over the weekend and inadvertently clogged the limited number of roads leading to the hilltop town.

“At least 157,665 vehicles had entered the small town on Friday [January 7] and Saturday [January 8], with roughly 400 vehicles still stuck in the snow,” an adviser to Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar said in a statement issued January 9.

The Pakistan Army deployed troops to Muree on Saturday to help clear roads blocked by snow and fallen trees and to distribute food and blankets to the passengers of roughly 3,500 vehicles still stranded near the resort as of January 9.

“All stranded vehicles have been checked [and] all people in those vehicles shifted to relief camps,” the Pakistani Armed Forces wrote in a statement issued January 8.

“The military said it provided medical care to more than 300 tourists on Saturday [January 8], with more than 1,000 served food at relief camps in the area,” Al Jazeera reported.

“Shocked & upset at tragic deaths of tourists on road to Murree,” Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan wrote in a Twitter statement posted by his personal account on January 8.

“Unprecedented snowfall & rush of ppl [people] proceeding without checking weather conditions caught district admin unprepared,” the statement read.