Gilgit [Pakistan], July 15 : Three tourists, including a child, lost their lives and three were injured after a car plunged into Pakistan's Indus River in the Roundu valley of Skardu on Monday, Pakistan-based daily, Dawn reported.
Police said that the car was en route to Skardu from Islamabad when it was hit by falling rocks from a mountain on Baltistan Road near Malupa village.
The car plunged into the river after the driver lost control of it.
The three deceased were identified as Sajid Qureshi, a minor girl from Jhelum and Syed Hassan, a local driver from Skardu. Adnan Qureshi, his wife Rabia Qureshi, and six-year-old Asad were injured.
Local police, Rescue 1122 and volunteers moved all the passengers to the Combined Military Hospital, Skardu. Doctors said the injured are in critical condition.
Following the accident, several locals blocked the Baltistan Road to protest against frequent accidents. They claimed that the road is prone to accidents due to its flawed design and structural issues.
Imran Nadeem Shigri, a leader from the Pakistan People's Party and a former member of the Gilgit-Baltistan Assembly, said that vehicles traveling without maintenance and traffic rules' violations are stated to be the main causes of road accidents, but little is said about the safety of road infrastructure.
"What we fail to recognise is that the structural flaws in road infrastructure are mainly the reason many preventable accidents occur on a daily basis," he added.
Shigri said that many have raised concerns over the structural flaws of the construction of Baltistan Road, but the authorities did not take any steps to fix them.
He warned that until the flaws are addressed, such mishaps will continue to occur.
On June 18, at least five people from the same family lost their lives after the vehicle they were travelling in collided with a motorcycle in Sheikhupura, Pakistan.
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