Two tourists were killed and three others, including the tour operator, are missing after a loader jeep carrying tourists plunged into a raging water channel in the Neelum Valley, Azad Jammu and Kashmir, on Wednesday.
Neelum Deputy Commissioner (DC) Nadeem Ahmed Janjua reported that eight tourists were rescued, some with injuries.
According to witnesses, the accident occurred around 1:30 pm when the vehicle, en route to Ratti Gali, a renowned alpine glacial lake at 3,683 meters, had only covered three kilometers from the main Neelum Valley road. The total length of the link road to the base of Ratti Gali Lake is 18 km.
The witness said that while negotiating a curve at a location known as Jabba, the vehicle encountered trouble due to a driveshaft failure, which stopped its propulsion. As the vehicle stalled, the driver jumped out, and the jeep rolled backwards plunging into the water channel and tipping over onto its left side.
Residents recovered one body from beneath the overturned vehicle, while the other was found downstream near the Kalas village.
DC Janjua identified the deceased as Ahsan Sheikh from Rawalpindi and Muhammad Bachal Attar from Naushahro Feroze in Sindh.
The eight rescued tourists were identified as Abu Musa’b Siddiqui and his wife Sidra Siddiqui from Karachi; Usman Mughal, Abdul Rehman Butt, and Subhan Qureshi from Wazirabad; Mehwal Attar and Saddam Hussain from Naushahro Feroze; and Abdullah Mumtaz Qureshi from Rawalpindi. Some of the injured were hospitalized but are out of danger, he added.
Janjua identified the missing people as Imran Sheikh from Wazirabad, Asrar Ahmed Abbasi from Naushahro Feroze, and tour operator Dildar from Muzaffarabad. “So far, the rescuers have been unable to locate them,” he said.
Neelum Valley has recently witnessed several serious road accidents, often due to poor vehicle conditions or driver negligence. Janjua said he had initiated a crackdown on outdated and modified vehicles immediately after assuming office. “We removed extended footboards, side railings, and rods from all vehicles to prevent overcrowding,” he said. “We have also impounded or sent several off-road unfit and modified vehicles.”
Janjua highlighted that tour operators who misled tourists with exaggerated claims were also being identified, and cases had already been filed against two of them. “Despite repeated warnings and informative messages, most tourists, even well-qualified ones, do not verify the tour operators’ claims with the administration, tourism department, or tourism police, which are accessible around the clock,” he said.
The jeep involved in the accident was not a passenger jeep but a loader jeep used for carrying sand and gravel, hired by the tour operator after the crackdown on unfit and modified vehicles, he explained.
