Sadpara avalanche: families disappointed with slow rescue efforts for recovery of missing youths

The families of the five ill-fated persons, who were hit by avalanche at Sadpara valley, some 5 km south of Skardu, are expressing dismay over snail's pace rescue efforts. This unfortunate incident occurred last Friday when lightning and thunderstorm struck parts of Baltistan region.
The bereaved families have also appealed to the rescuers to continue operations till the recovery of all the bodies of their dear ones. Ghulam Nabi, the Union Council's secretary told this scribe on phone that three of the victims were students. They were on way back to Skardu after spending their summer vacations in their native village Gultari Sumuluk, some 180 km from Skardu, the capital of Baltistan.
He said that a large number of people were engaged in rescue operation for the last three days while the Gilgit-Baltistan Disaster Management Authority (GBDMA) had also put in place two excavators on the site on Monday. The sniffer dogs were also being used to trace the victims. However, no recovery was made till the filing of this report.
The flashflood also hit Rgyaul area in Skardu city where as many as 90 houses have been completely destroyed while hundreds of families have been rendered homeless. Cropped fields, orchards, roads, and water channels have also been badly damaged while trees were uprooted by the flood caused by the fresh rain spell of ongoing monsoon season.
"I have lost entire earnings," said Muhammad Shakoor, a retired personnel of Pak Army, whose newly-constructed house was hit by the flood. Meanwhile, identity of the missing youths were established as: Zeeshan, son of Muhammad Hadi, Hyder, son of Najaf Ali, Asif, son of Haji Ayyub and Mukhtar, son of Ali Motick and his 5-year-old son. The victims belong to a family from Gultari Sumuluk.
Muhammad Ali Askari, a cousin of a missing youth told Business Recorder that the high altitude valley, comprising of two Union Councils (UCs) with some 12,000 inhabitants, has been ignored by the district administration since long.
He said even a single high school has not been established across the region so far and that has been compelling dozens of students to move towards Skardu and Gilgit for education, each year. There is no communication system in the entire region. Road linkages to other parts of the country remained disconnected during the winter season, he deplored. It is relevant to mention here that Gultari is the constituency of Haji Fida Muhammad Nashad, the incumbent Speaker of Gilgit-Baltistan Legislative Assembly (GBLA). Nashad and SSP Skardu, Raja Mirza Hussain, were not available for their comments.