Severe flooding in the Hunza River has caused widespread destruction in the Gulmit area of Gojal, blocking the Karakoram Highway (KKH) for all vehicular traffic since Tuesday.
The RCC bridge in Gulmit was buried under flood debris, leaving travelers stranded on both sides of the Pakistan-China Khunjerab border crossing. Two excavators of the Frontier Works Organization (FWO) are working to restore the highway.
Local residents have stepped in to assist, guiding passengers across a temporary bridge and even carrying ailing and elderly travelers on their backs.
According to Gilgit-Baltistan government spokesman Faizullah Firaq, over 50 workers narrowly escaped the flooding’s destruction in Gulmit and Gojal. He confirmed that landslides have struck Shahrah-e-Resham, while flooding in Shigar has swept away agricultural land and uprooted trees.
The spokesman said the KKH remains blocked at Hunza due to landslides, leaving many passengers stranded.
Authorities have linked the scale of devastation to the worsening impacts of climate change, with Gilgit-Baltistan experiencing some of its most severe flooding in recent years.