Rajouri, May 5: A father-son duo was among four people who lost their lives in an accident near Chatta Pani on Mughal Road following slippery road surface due to snowfall.
The ill-fated vehicle had gone missing on the road on Monday evening and was traced in a gorge on Tuesday evening.
Police said a cab was on way to Kashmir from Poonch with three members of a family travelling in their car for medical examination of one of the family members.
They said that the cab was plying on Mughal Road in afternoon hours on Monday and it went missing with no one aware about the tragic happening.
“In late evening hours, the family members started to raise hue and cry only after they failed to establish any contact with their travelling members following which a search operation was launched in the morning hours on Tuesday,” Police said.
Sub Divisional Magistrate Surankote, Farooq Khan told Greater Kashmir that locals, civil administration, Police, and Army started the search operation in the early morning hours to trace the vehicle which was considered missing on the road.
“In late afternoon hours, one of our team spotted wreckage of a vehicle in a deep gorge after which the teams entered the gorge and succeeded in tracing the ill fated vehicle and two bodies from the site,” Khan said.
He said that four passengers were travelling in the vehicle at the time of incident and other two bodies were also recovered during further searches conducted in the gorge.
“Preliminary investigation revealed that only four person including the driver were travelling in the vehicle at the time of accident and there was no evidences that any fifth passenger was present in the ill fated cab,” Khan said.
Regarding victims, he said that a man from Mangnar village of Poonch was ill and his son and another family members were taking him to Srinagar for medical treatment and they were travelling in the cab with driver among four people in total were on board.
The dead include cab driver Showkat Hussain of Hari Surankote; Abdul Majeed, son of Manir Hussain; father-son duo identified as Akbar Hussain, son of Ghulam Haider, and his son Muhammad Bashir, all residents of Mangnar, Poonch.
Police said that a case under relevant sections of law has been registered at Police Station Surankote and further legal proceedings are underway.
Unseasonal Snowfall in Rajouri, Poonch causes hardships
Meanwhile, an unusual spell of heavy snowfall in the upper reaches of Rajouri and Poonch districts on Monday not only caught residents off guard but also led to widespread hardships, damage to property, and a tragic accident on the Mughal Road.
May is typically marked by warm weather in the region, with no expectation of snowfall.
However, the sudden change in weather brought heavy snowfall across several high-altitude areas, disrupting normal life and taking people by complete surprise.
The unseasonal snowfall on Sunday and Monday particularly affected the nomadic communities currently on their seasonal migration, leaving many stranded and struggling amid harsh conditions.
In addition, reports of damage to property have also emerged from various areas especially due to winds as the unexpected weather event impacted infrastructure and daily activities.
The snowfall, beside taking people by surprise, also caused a major incident as a vehicle travelling on the Mughal Road skidded off the snow-covered slippery surface and plunged into a deep gorge.
Mughal Road connecting Rajouri and Poonch with Shopian got blocked for movement of vehicles on Monday and more than 120 vehicles remained trapped.
These vehicles with more than 300 on board were rescued after eight hours on Monday late evening.
Farmers of Rajouri also expressed concern saying that even their wheat harvest practice was badly affected.
“We harvested our wheat crop and are going to extract grains from plantlet but heavy rainfall, hailstorm, and windstorm have affected it. We fear damage to the harvested crop also,” said Sanjay Kumar, a farmer of Rajouri.
