Army rescues 22 stranded students in snow-hit Gilgit-Baltistan

RAWALPINDI: A Pakistan Army helicopter rescued 22 students of a private university stranded in snow-hit Gilgit-Baltistan on Monday, said Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR).

According to the military’s media wing, the 22 students of Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS) stranded when the vehicle they were travelling in stuck in heavy snowfall near Ratto, a village near Astore Valley.

The university administration requested the Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Qamar Javed Bajwa to help save the lives of stranded students.

A Pakistan Army helicopter, on the direction of the COAS, airlifted the students to Rawalpindi, read the statement.

Later, the students left to their homes.

Earlier on January 15, Pakistan Army had continued its rescue and relief operation in rain and snow-hit areas of Azad Jammu and Kashmir and Balochistan, Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) had said.

According to the military media wing, affected families were being provided food, blankets, medicines tents and other things through Army helicopters in the snow-hit areas.

Army troops, including Frontier Works Organization (FWO) and civil administration, were undertaking joint efforts to provide relief to the affected people, read the statement