Posted on July 06, 2025
CRUSH:
On June 28, the summer sun rose to the Swat valley to start a perfect day. A favorite retirement for vacationers from across the country fleeing the burning heat of urban centers, Swat was in the tourism season. The winding roads of the valley were filled with vehicles carrying families in search of fresh breezes, mountain views and memories.
Around 8 am, two families arrived in the Mingora Babozai region among the many other travelers. One family came from Mardan and the other came from Siackot. After a light breakfast in a hotel on the roadside, they went to a panoramic place along the Swat river. With the water that flowed slowly nearby, the children laughed, the elders sipped tea and everyone posed for photos, to capture moments of a memorable trip.
But the danger was quietly built in the sky above.
Sudden flood
What started as a slight thread quickly turned into a torrential downpour. Ignoring the warnings or weather alerts from Cloudburst, families continued to take advantage of their break by the river. While the water level started to increase, they moved to what seemed to be higher ground – perhaps more panic than strategy.
Eye witnesses noted later that the water level at the beginning was no more than a depth foot – still not very deep to go to safety. But then came the flood. In a few minutes, a wave of flow transformed the light current into an unleashed torrent. The high area of makeshift was swallowed up and the families were swept away.
Only three people survived. Fourteen were lost in a few minutes.
Could it have been prevented?
The tragedy sparked sorrow and anger nationally. Many wondered if it was simply a natural disaster – or something that could have been avoided with better foresight and a better response.
Hazrat Ali Bacha, a main journalist based in Swat, underlined serious administrative touches. “Babozai is not an designated tourist place. These families ended just en route to Kalam,” he said. “They were trapped for almost an hour. A rescue team formed and properly equipped could have saved them. ”
Bacha also revealed a disturbing infrastructure defect. “The district government had recently built a jogging track along the river. To do this, an entrepreneur temporarily diverted the flow of water with a wall – which was never dismantled after the end of the project. During the rain, this wall collapsed, redirecting the whole river towards the place where tourists stood. ”
He added that local rescue units, in particular rescue 1122, were not only slow to act but insufficiently prepared – claiming that many of its staff members were recruited on the basis of political affiliation, not merit.
The real first stakeholders
While the official response fogged down, local heroes intervened. Hilal, a well -known local fisherman and diver, had just returned from seven people elsewhere when someone informed him of the tragedy that takes place in Babozai.
“When I arrived, the ASMAT rescue diver was preparing its raft. We gathered it and managed to save three people, ”recalls Hilal. “Later, I found two bodies. My heart is broken, I didn’t get there earlier. ”
Hilal is not a volunteer by chance – rescue work takes place in his family. His father was local and fisherman’s rescue for 35 years. Today, Hilal and his brothers allow this heritage.
He also criticized the standard rescue equipment. “The inflatable boats with rotors are useless in the Swat river – it’s too shallow and rocky. We always use the traditional “wooden jala” (wooden raft), which works much better here. “
Hilal and Asmat were then invited to the governor’s house and were publicly rented for their courage. However, behind the distinctions is a disturbing truth: those without uniforms are often those that do the most critical work.
Rescue 1122 answers
Faced with a public examination, the director general of rescue 1122 Shah Fahad defended the actions of his department.
“The Swat river on a normal day has a discharge of 3,000 to 4,000 brackets. This Friday, it increased to 77,000 brackets in just 45 minutes. It was a sudden extreme flood,” he said.
Fahad recognized a key delay in the rescue response: the first emergency call received at 9:49 am wrongly reported that tourists were trapped in a hotel. “We sent an ambulance. When it turned out to be an emergency of water, only we sent the appropriate team. This bad communication cost us time. ”
He refuted the allegations according to which rescue 1122 was poorly equipped. “We have both inflatable boats and” jala “rafts, life jackets and trained divers,” he said. “We also collected video surveillance images and residents’ videos to rebuild what happened.”
Government action and public backlash
The tragedy sparked an immediate administrative response from the provincial government. Lawyer Muhammad Ali Saif, advisor to the Minister -Chief of Information, confirmed that disciplinary measures had been taken.
“The chief minister suspended the assistant commissioners of Babozai and Khwazakhela, the additional sub-commissioner (relief) and the chief of the rescue district 1122,” said Saif. “A complete investigation was launched by the chief minister’s inspection team.”
SAIF has also detailed new government initiatives in response: a complete ban on the exploitation of river beds in Swat; a repression of encroachments, including hotels built too close to the river; Deployment of modern rescue tools such as drones and life jackets; Establishment of a unified response center in Swat; Mobile patrol units along the banks throughout the Malakand division; and a reassessment of the early alert system of the irrigation service floods.
He added that more than 75 failed people had been saved from different parts of the valley in the hours which followed the flood and that the financial remuneration was distributed to affected families.
“The chief minister has personally visited families to offer condolences,” said Saif. “Although we cannot prevent natural disasters, we are committed to ensuring that negligent officials are held responsible.”
A system on the edge
Despite insurance, many residents believe that these are reactive measures – too little, too late. Year after year, the monsoon season exhibits how much the province’s emergency services are stretched and underworld.
In many regions, rescue staff 1122 is not trained for specific land such as the Swat Rocky river. The equipment is often unsuitable or obsolete. In forest fire emergencies, the speakers were even seen trying to make flames using branches of trees.
There is also no constant deployment of officers along the rivers during the seasons of the floods. The mobilization of local volunteers like Hilal could fill this gap – but this requires long -term planning, which, according to criticism, is still lacking.
“It’s not just a bad day. This is a system that has not been built to resist the realities of this region,” said Bacha.
Failed infrastructure
The floods have also highlighted a long -standing problem: the fragility of modern infrastructure. Through Swat and a large part of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, the roads, the bridges and the pumTles collapse regularly under the tension of heavy rain. Revealing, many bridges built during British colonial domination over a century ago, while the most recent built only 10 to 15 years ago.
It is not only a question of bad luck – it reflects dubious construction practices, a lack of surveillance and a quality compromised in public works. The consequences are fatal.
Each destroyed bridge or collapsed road during a flood is not only a logistical drawback – it is a cut lifeline, often at the worst time possible.
A tourist spot or a death trap?
Swat Valley has long attracted travelers with its breathtaking beauty, its rich story and its hospitality. But each disaster like this takes its reputation away. When security is not guaranteed, tourists will think twice – and the local economy, highly dependent on tourism, will suffer.
However, in the middle of sorrow, there is also hope. The tragedy has triggered conversations expected for a long time on rescue capacity, climate resilience and the integrity of infrastructure. It remains to be seen if these conversations result in a lasting reform.
An artificial crisis?
What happened in Babozai on June 28 was not only a bizarre act. It was the result of cascading failures – ignored warnings, incomplete projects and systemic negligence.
The water came quickly. But the gaps in the system were built for years.
While Swat begins to heal, a truth remains: if the real reform does not follow this tragedy, then the next one is only a monsoon.
Riaz Ahmad is an independent journalist and contributor
All the facts and information are the sole responsibility of the author
