Rescue operations had been delayed owing to the adverse weather conditions, leaving men, women and children on holiday from across the country stranded in their vehicles overnight on Sunday, without food, water or warmth.
One tourist speaking to the Express Tribune said he had been travelling to Chitral, but that snow accumulation had blocked the road at around 10pm. He said at least 250 cars were stranded in a desolate area, lacking hotels or other support services.
Local administration reported that they mobilized rescue vehicles at noon on Monday, as soon as a break in the snowfall allowed heavy machinery to pass through the snowy highway. The Pakistan Army and Frontier Corps also came to the aid of the stranded tourists, clearing the roads and distributing food.
Early last month, the nation watched in horror as a blizzard trapped hundreds of tourists on their way to Murree, leaving 23 dead, many of them members of the same family. The local administration in Murree was criticized following the incident after it was revealed that they did not deploy 20 of the 29 snow ploughs available to them. Similarly, Islamabad High Court (IHC) Chief Justice Athar Minallah said the the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), which had not held a meeting for over four years, was partially accountable for the deaths.