'Brothers don't come to Murree': Last videos of ill-fated tourists surface

MURREE: ‘Brothers do not come to Murree, you will get trapped and will have to push your vehicles in the snow’ are the last words of four youngsters from Mardan who were among the 21 ill-fated tourists who died while getting stranded in the snow-packed roads.

The four youngsters Sohail, Asad, Bilal and Bilal Hussain were like all 21 travelers who died enroute to Murree after planning a vacation trip to the hill station to witness snowfall.

The video, which proved to be their last one, showed the lively youngsters enjoying their trip and singing a Pashto song while stranded on the road.

“‘Brothers do not come to Murree, you will get trapped and will have to push your vehicles in the snow. Go and sleep in your cozy beds at home and offer prayers,” they could be heard saying in the heart-wrenching video message.

In another video, an ill-fated tourist Zafar Iqbal could be seen talking to his son in a video call, which proved to be his last contact with his family.

Iqbal, a resident of Lahore, went with his friends to visit Murree and died along with them. The video showed Iqbal sharing the sight of snowfall with his son as other victims could also be seen in the video.

Assistant sub-inspector (ASI) Naved Iqbal, his wife, their daughters – Iqra, 10; Dua, 14; Shafaq, 18; son Ahmed, 5, and two nephews aged two and nine years were among the tourists who perished in the heart-wrenching tragedy.

With his car stuck in the middle of the road amid heavy snowfall, the cop kept making calls in an effort to be rescued but no one came to the family’s rescue.

“We have been stuck for the past 18 hours,” he can be heard saying in his last telephonic conversation. “God willing, everything would be fine if the system starts working. We are in great distress,” he said.