86 boat commuters wait for 4 hours in middle of the dammed Hunza River

By Ali Sarwar

Hunza, September 17: A boat carrying 86 passengers developed fault and halted in middle of the dammed Hunza River near Ayeenabad. The helpless and terrified passengers had to wait for 4 hours in middle of the dammed river before being transfered to another boat.

The boat belonged to a private operator.

“I was really horrified”, a man called Farman told this scribe on phone. “We could not nothing excepting waiting and praying”, he further said.

The boat commuters sent SOS call through cell phone to officials in Gulmit but had to wait for hours before being rescued through another boat.

The local people have demanded of the Pakistan Army for deployment of patrolling boats in the lake to avert any unforeseen situation. The demand seems plausible because boats are the only mean of transportation for a population of 25,000 .