ISLAMABAD: At least nine members of a family were killed when a snow avalanche buried their house in the remote Serigal village in Pakistan’s Chitral district, amid heavy snowfall that has paralysed northern parts of the country.
The avalanche struck the isolated home in the mountainous region of Chitral after more than 20 inches of snow fell on Friday, officials said.
A massive slab of snow reportedly slid down from a nearby pasture, engulfing the house in the sparsely populated village.
Deputy Commissioner Hashim Azim said rescue teams recovered the bodies from the debris, while a nine-year-old boy survived and was taken to the hospital for treatment.
Local officials said the family was gathered in the central room of the house for a meal when the avalanche struck.
Snowfall continued uninterrupted for more than 36 hours across the Chitral valley, from Arandu to Broghil, severely disrupting daily life. Traffic was suspended on several roads, including the approach road to the Lowari Tunnel, where thousands of passengers were stranded for nearly 18 hours before snow clearance operations reopened the route on Friday evening.
Several roads in both Upper and Lower Chitral remain closed, while electricity supply has been cut after heavy snowfall at Lowari Top damaged the national transmission line linking the region to the rest of the country.
Across Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, heavy rain and snowfall blocked roads, disrupted power supplies and intensified a cold wave. Snowfall was also reported on the mountains surrounding the Peshawar valley.
In Khyber district, dozens of displaced families returning from Tirah were stranded during a snowstorm. Rescue 1122 said operations were under way in Tirah Valley, Painda Cheena, Dawatoi and Bagh Maidan to assist those trapped by the weather.
Gilgit-Baltistan cut off
Conditions worsened further in Gilgit-Baltistan, where fresh snowfall on Friday triggered widespread road closures, power outages and extreme cold.
In upper Hunza, residents said snowfall had severely hampered relief work for families still living in tents after recent earthquakes. Hundreds of families were reported to be facing shortages of food, medicine and heating supplies, with temperatures falling below minus 20 degrees Celsius.
Major routes, including the Karakoram Highway, Baltistan Highway and the Ghizer–Shandur Road, were blocked at multiple points by snow, avalanches and landslides.
Hundreds of passengers, including women, children and elderly people, were stranded for hours, particularly in Kohistan, where vehicles were stuck in freezing conditions with limited access to food and shelter. Local authorities later cleared parts of the Karakoram Highway and arranged temporary accommodation and meals for those affected.
Murree, Balochistan gripped by cold
Heavy rain and hail battered Rawalpindi and Islamabad on Friday, while around 15 inches of snow was recorded in Murree, forcing authorities to close the Murree Expressway and suspend the entry of vehicles into the hill station. Temperatures in Murree fell to four degrees Celsius and were expected to drop further in the coming days.
In Balochistan, bitter cold continued to disrupt daily life. Quetta recorded its coldest night of the winter on Thursday, with temperatures plunging to minus 13 degrees Celsius. Kalat and Ziarat recorded minus 12 and minus 11 degrees respectively.
Gas shortages compounded the hardship, forcing residents to rely on gas cylinders and firewood for heating. Water supply in parts of Quetta was suspended after pipelines burst due to sub-zero temperatures and power outages.
The Provincial Disaster Management Authority said it had rescued 17 stranded people, including women and children, near Muslim Bagh, while army troops assisted in clearing snowbound sections of the N-50 highway in the Zhob area.
More snow forecast
The Pakistan Meteorological Department warned that another spell of rain and snowfall is expected from Sunday night through Tuesday as a new westerly weather system approaches the country.
The Met Office said rain, wind and thunderstorms with snowfall are likely across much of Balochistan, while upper Sindh, parts of Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa could also be affected. Heavy snowfall is forecast in Gilgit-Baltistan and Azad Kashmir, raising concerns about further avalanches and prolonged disruption.
