SWAT: On Sunday, in the Serai Mankyal neighborhood of Bahrain tehsil here, a young man fell from a makeshift chairlift and perished in the Swat River.
The deceased, identified as Luqman, was using a locally manufactured chairlift to cross a river when he lost his balance and fell into the water as a result of the chairlift’s jolts.
Locals made fruitless attempts to retrieve the body.
The incident is a part of a local tragedy that keeps happening. The devastating floods of 2010 carried away the bridges that had once linked villages along the river from Bahrain to Kalam. Since then, the only way for the people living in these remote villages across the Swat River to cross the hazardous waterway has been to erect improvised chairlifts.
Unfortunately, there have been many fatalities from these chairlifts or cable cars throughout the years due to their poor quality and dubious safety.
Residents of Bahrain say that bridges destroyed in the 2010 floods have not yet been restored.
Residents of the area have expressed their anger and anxiety, mentioning multiple incidents of drowning brought on by these dangerous chairlifts. A resident of the impacted village named Akhtar Malak stated, “So far, 13 people have died after falling from the chairlift that connects our village to the main Kalam Road.” Before the 2010 floods, we had a functional bridge, but it washed away. The bridge has not yet been reconstructed, despite several administrations’ assurances to that effect.
With no other way to cross the river, the villagers’ dependence on these hazardous chairlifts has become a harsh reality.
An elder named Jan Mohammad gave an explanation of the people’ hopeless predicament:
We have numerous challenges because there isn’t a suitable bridge. The people erected a chairlift, but it is not safe. Even men put their lives in danger every time they cross the river, while women and children are too scared to utilize it.
The elder claimed that the people lacked the funds necessary to construct a reliable and appropriate cable car system. “The neighborhood is still isolated and deprived of essential services and employment possibilities due to the bridge’s absence. The state of affairs has not changed despite several requests for government action.
Many governments have promised insincere restoration of the region’s bridges since the disasters.
Sadly, nothing has changed, and the people who live along the river on both sides still rely on these improvised cable cars. Because of this, they continually run the risk of losing their lives and deal with a lot of difficulties in their daily lives.
Now, the people living in Serai Mankyal and the other impacted places are pleading with the government to act quickly to reconstruct the bridges that used to connect their villages to the rest of the area.
By installing permanent, secure infrastructure in place of these dangerous chairlifts, the community aims to stop such deaths.
We’re out of time, according to Jan Mohammad. “Before more lives are lost, the government needs to take action. That bridge is necessary, and we need it quickly.
