Rati Gali: Tourist killed by flood relay, four others missing
According to the authorities in Pakistan-administered Kashmir, one tourist has died due to a cloudburst and flooding in a drain in the famous tourist destination Ratigali Lake area, while the search for four missing tourists is ongoing.
Akhtar Ayub, officer of Neelum district of the State Disaster Management Authority, says that Talha Javed, a tourist from Narowal area of Punjab, has died after a cloudburst caused a flood in the canal on August 16. He said that his dead body was found in the area of Neelam valley, Aqq Syedan.
SP Neelam Sajid Imran says that Talha's body has been shifted to the District Headquarters Hospital, Atmaqam, and the family members have left Narwal to receive it.
According to Akhtar Ayub, these five missing people were studying in Islamabad who "reached the Neelam Valley on the night of August 13 by public transport and died in the flood that came in Nala Dwarian on August 16 at five o'clock in the evening."
"Floods washed away everything around the rail drain"
Akhtar Ayub said that a local man named Irfan, who was himself affected by the flooding of the drain last night, contacted the district headquarters and said that when these people were walking back along the drain along the drain towards Dwarian, at that time the drains I got hit by the coming flood.
Chalhana entry point records and other information revealed that these tourists had celebrated Independence Day on August 14 at Urang Keel, one of the Alats located near the LOC.
According to one of the eyewitnesses, these five people got out of the driver's car and were walking when the floodgate came from behind at Chak's place. We tried to save their lives. I hung from a tree but we could not save his life.
Amjad, the driver, said that he was returning from the base camp when the five men told him that they had to go down.
On reaching the place, I stopped the car there because it was raining heavily and I advised them to stay in a house there, but the tourists continued their journey saying that we have to reach the university in the morning. Prohibited to travel on a separate route above the road instead of traveling on the road along the drain.
"But due to the hurry, instead of listening to me, he agreed to go by the road and said, "Brothers, they are young people.
Akhtar Ayub said that some time after the driver Amjad left, a terrible storm surge occurred in the drain, which swept away everything around the drain.
Maybe the signal is not connecting
Talha's cousin, Umar said, the group of friends had gone on August 13 and went missing on August 16. He said that he was last contacted on 14th.
Umar said that they said that the signal does not come in these areas, so they will contact only after returning to Muzaffarabad.
We thought that we would not be able to talk until the 16th due to lack of signal and would have stopped somewhere, but when there was no contact even after that, we resorted to social media.
At the time Umar spoke to us, he was traveling from Narowal to Kashmir. Both the missing persons Umeer and Zubair are brothers and cousins of Umar.
He said that after not receiving any information even on the third day and after hearing the news of the state of emergency there, he posted on social media groups and called some sources in the Neelum Valley and received this information.
They said that Talha was 17 years old and had done FSC, while Akmal and Zubair had also done FSC. The eldest in this group were Umeer and Hasnat who according to him were students of Comsetes University Islamabad.
After the tragedy, local people escorted the tourists returning from Ratigali Base Camp in the dark of night to the Zero Point and many tourists were voluntarily accommodated in their homes by the local people.
The local people also helped the district administration in pulling out the vehicles stuck in the drain.
A photo of a school teacher carrying tourists' children on his shoulders is going viral on social media as he descends the hills near the drain.