A glacier broke out in the Gilgit-Baltistan Baagrot Valley caused a person’s death on Friday, while his father was injured, according to the regional government spokesman.
A glacial explosion, or a flood of burst of the glacial lake (GLOF), refers to an outbreak of water from a glacial lake that could cause severe floods downstream. Pakistan houses more than 13,032 glaciers, the largest glacier deposit outside the polar regions. However, experts have warned that it has been reported that around 10,000 glaciers in Chitral and GB are going back due to the increase in temperature induced by climate change.
GB government spokesman Faizullah Faraq said that the father and son had fallen into a ravine and have been buried under the rubble of the Bagunrot glacier while it exploded, hurting both.
“The locals and rescue 1122 saved the father while the son was killed,” he said.
The former member of the Bagrot Valley Assembly, Captain (Retd) Muhammad Shafi, said the father and son had been traveling on foot in the glacier in the Barci village when he collapsed.
“The rescue team rescued the father after several hours of efforts, but the son could not be rescued alive,” he said, added that the father was transported to the hospital.
According to local journalist Imtiaz Gulab Bagoro, the father and son were from the Balchi village. They were going from Gargo Village to Barci Village when the glacier collapsed.
He said that the father and son were rescued after 10 hours, while Gilgit Rescue 1122 reported that the rescue took eight hours.
The rescue team added that the child’s body had been transferred to his hometown of Balchi.
According to Faraq, the new sudden floods had “wreaked havoc in all directions” in the Khanbari area of the Diamer District.
“Floods in Khanbari have destroyed the crops, lands and water channels of people,” he said, added that floods continued throughout the province.
The Bagot Valley has been a victim of climate change in recent years, with many GLOF that affects the population.
According to non -governmental organizations (NGOs), several glacial lakes have formed in the valley.
To reduce the risks of these glacial lakes, NGOs have planted hundreds of trees in the Bagund Valley and have built protective walls with foreign aid. Early alert systems have been installed in various GB places to inform the population about the flood situation due to climate change.
Safdar Ali, who is in charge of the GLOF Project Information Department, said that 200 early warning stations had been established in 16 valleys to protect the human population from flood waves due to climate change, of which 147 stations were active.
According to him, the early warning system had reported the danger in the Nullah Hassanabad, but “since there was no great threat to the population, the practice of repeatedly sounding the siren did not continue.”
Ali said that the early alert system data were transferred to the Department of Meteorology, depending on which weather alerts were issued.
In June, the National Emergency Operation Center of the National Authority for Disaster Management issued a GLOF alert for the Northern areas, including GB, citing a dangerous combination of high persistent temperatures, intensified monzón currents and a predominant west wave.
The same month, three members of a family, including a man and his teenage son, were buried alive in a glacial slide while taking photos in the Sohni waterfall near Naran.
Last year in August, a burst of Glacial Lake hit a village in the district of Alta Chitral, displacing 30 families.
