Pak freezes, 22 stuck in cars die

Islamabad: Temperatures fell to minus 8 degrees Celsius (17.6 Fahrenheit) amid heavy snowfall at Pakistan’s mountain resort town of Murree overnight, killing at least 22 people who were stuck in their vehicles, officials said Saturday.

Atiq Ahmed, an Islamabad police officer, said eight of the 22 fatalities were from the family of fellow police officer Naveed Iqbal, who also died. Most of the victims died of hypothermia, officials said.

Rescue services physician Abdur Rehman said that after evacuating all of the stranded tourists from their cars, the death toll stood at 22, including 10 men, 10 children and two women.

Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed said thousands of vehicles had been pulled from the snow but more than a thousand were still stuck in the area Saturday. Located 28 miles (45.5 kilometers) north of the capital of Islamabad, Murree is a popular winter resort that attracts well over a million tourists annually.