ALPURI/ MANSEHRA: At least four people were killed in separate incidents of lightning strikes in Shangla and Mansehra on Wednesday amidst heavy rain and snowfall, officials and local sources said.
In Shangla, lightning struck a residential house in the remote Lilonai village near Alpuri, the district headquarters, killing three members of the same family. Three children in the house survived miraculously. The deceased in Shangla have been identified as Yar Muhammad, his wife Taj Bibi, and their son Murad Ali.
Rescue teams and local residents rushed to the site, recovered the bodies, and handed them over to the bereaved family after necessary procedures. The area remains in mourning, with locals calling on the government to provide financial aid to the affected family.
Meanwhile, a man was killed by lightning strike and the Karakoram Highway (KKH) was blocked for traffic, as the upper parts of Hazara received heavy downpour and snowfall.The rain, which started in the early hours, continued intermittently for the rest of the day in Mansehra, Torghar, Upper Kohistan, Lower Kohistan and Kolai-Palas districts, turning the weather severely cold.
The rain, followed by thunderstorms and lightning, caused fear among the residents in the mountainous parts.
Sheraz Shah alias Shani and his friend Zain Shah, who were on their way home in the Tajal Mera area in Mansehra district, were hit by lightning.Both were rushed to a nearby health facility by locals, where doctors pronounced Sheraz Shah dead, and his friend was hospitalised, where his condition was stated to be critical.
Also, the Karakoram Highway was blocked to traffic at various points in Upper Kohistan, suspending traffic between KP and GB and inter-district traffic.Passengers travelling between both federating units remained stranded in their vehicles on the KKH.
The district administration of Lower Kohistan, according to a press release, shifted around 60 passengers, including 13 women and children, to shelter houses in Pattan and provided them with meals at sehr after KKH was blocked in neighbouring Upper Kohistan.
The KKH, Mansehra-Naran-Jalkhad road and urban parts of cities and towns were inundated by heavy water, affecting traffic. High-altitude parts of the division also received snowfall, plunging the mercury to minus 2 degrees Celsius.
Heavy snowfall, which started in the early hours in Kaghan, Siran and Konsh valleys in Mansehra district, and Kandia Valley and Spat Valley in Kohistan and other high-altitude parts of the division, continued the rest of the day.
