An old wooden bridge over a fast-moving river in Kashmir collapsed as dozens of students were taking pictures on it, leading to at least five deaths on Sunday.
Pakistani rescue workers search for bodies at the site of the bridge collapse in Kundal Shahi, some 75 kilometers (47 miles) north of Muzaffarabad, the capital of Pakistani controlled Kashmir, Sunday, May 13, 2018. (AP Photo/M.D. Mughal)
Javed Ayub, a senior tourism department official in Pakistani-administered Kashmir, said 14 students were rescued after the bridge collapsed and that civil and military rescue teams were searching for 11 others.
Ayub said rescue workers recovered the bodies of five drowned students. The students, most in their early 20s, were enrolled in the medical college at Faisalabad in eastern Punjab province. He said some students from a college in Lahore were also among those who fell into the river.
"We hope for the best but it will be unlikely to find the remaining (students) alive as the water flow is very high," said Ayub.
Ayub said the hanging wooden bridge was designed for locals to use in small numbers. "The touring youths have not realized the danger despite a warning board asking people not to overload the old structure," he said.
Police official Mohammad Siddiq said eight of the rescued students were injured and airlifted to Muzaffarabad in a military helicopter for medical aid. He said the incident took place near the picnic point of Kundal Shahi, some 75 kilometers (approx. 47 miles) north of Muzaffarabad, the capital of Pakistani Kashmir.
The Neelum Valley is a popular tourist destination in the Pakistan-administered part of Kashmir.
Kashmir is split between Pakistan and India, both of which claim the Himalayan region in its entirety.
A courageous correspondent who reported from the world's trouble spots. A supporter of humanitarian causes. A good friend.
Those were among the reactions to the death of Terry Anderson, the former chief Middle East correspondent for The Associated Press. Anderson was one of America’s longest-held hostages after he was abducted from Lebanon in 1985 and held for almost seven years. Anderson, 76, died Sunday in Greenwood Lake, New York, of complications from recent heart surgery.
——-
“Terry was deeply committed to on-the-ground eyewitness reporting and demonstrated great bravery and resolve, both in his journalism and during his years held hostage. We are so appreciative of the sacrifices he and his family made as the result of his work.” - Julie Pace, senior vice president and executive editor of the AP.
“The word ‘hero’ gets tossed around a lot but applying it to Terry Anderson just enhances it. His six-and-a-half-year ordeal as a hostage of terrorists was as unimaginable as it was real — chains, being transported from hiding place to hiding place strapped to the chassis of a truck, given often inedible food, cut off from the world he reported on with such skill and caring.” - Louis D. Boccardi, the president and chief executive officer of the AP at the time of Anderson's captivity.
“He never liked to be called a hero, but that’s what everyone persisted in calling him." - Sulome Anderson, daughter. “Though my father’s life was marked by extreme suffering during his time as a hostage in captivity, he found a quiet, comfortable peace in recent years. I know he would choose to be remembered not by his very worst experience, but through his humanitarian work with the Vietnam Children’s Fund, the Committee to Protect Journalists, homeless veterans and many other incredible causes.”
“Our relationship was much broader and deeper, and more important and meaningful, than just that one incident,” Don Mell, former AP photographer who was with Anderson when gun-toting kidnappers dragged him from his car in Lebanon.
“Through his life and his work, Terry Anderson reminded us that journalism is a dangerous business, and foreign correspondents, in particular, take great personal risk to keep the public informed. ... For many years, Mr. Anderson had the distinction of being the longest held U.S. journalist hostage. He lived to see that unfortunate record eclipsed by journalist Austin Tice, currently held in Syria for nearly 12 years. When Anderson was kidnapped, the Press Club flew a banner across its building to remind journalists and the public of his plight. Similarly the Club now has a banner for Austin Tice." - statement of the National Press Club.
FILE - Former hostage Terry Anderson, center, carries his daughter Sulome, 6, through a crunch of the New York media upon arrival to John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York, Dec. 10, 1991. At left is Sulome's mother, Madeleine Bassil, and at immediate right is Associated Press President Lou Boccardi. Anderson, the globe-trotting AP correspondent who became one of America’s longest-held hostages after he was snatched from a street in war-torn Lebanon in 1985 and held for nearly seven years, died Sunday, April 21, 2024, at age 76. (AP Photo/Ed Bailey, File)
FILE - Former hostage and Associated Press chief Middle East correspondent Terry Anderson, center right, hugs Associated Press Deputy International Editor Nick Tatro, his predecessor in Beirut, outside the Associated Press headquarters in New York, Dec. 10, 1991. Anderson, the globe-trotting AP correspondent who became one of America’s longest-held hostages after he was snatched from a street in war-torn Lebanon in 1985 and held for nearly seven years, died Sunday, April 21, 2024, at age 76. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan, File)
FILE - AP chief Middle East correspondent Terry Anderson, center, accompanied by his sister Peggy Say, left, and Madeleine Bassil, right, smiles broadly upon his arrival at the Wiesbaden Air Force hospital in Germany, Dec. 5, 1991, a day after being released by his abductors in Beirut, where he was held captive for almost seven years. Anderson died Sunday, April 21, 2024, at age 76. (AP Photo/Thomas Kienzle, File)
FILE - Former hostage Terry Anderson, accompanied by his daughter Sulome, not shown, and her mother, Madeleine Bassil, arrives to a festive welcome, Dec. 12, 1991, at Dulles International Airport in Chantilly, Va. Anderson, the globe-trotting Associated Press correspondent who became one of America’s longest-held hostages after he was snatched from a street in war-torn Lebanon in 1985 and held for nearly seven years, died Sunday, April 21, 2024, at age 76. (AP Photo/Barry Thumma, File)
FILE - Former hostage and Associated Press Middle East chief correspondent Terry Anderson, center left, hugs colleague Jim Abrams during a visit to the Washington bureaus of The Associated Press in Washington, Dec. 12, 1991. Anderson, the globe-trotting Associated Press correspondent who became one of America’s longest-held hostages after he was snatched from a street in war-torn Lebanon in 1985 and held for nearly seven years, died Sunday, April 21, 2024, at age 76. (AP Photo/Greg Gibson, File)
FILE - Wearing a "Hello World" sweatshirt printed with his picture, former hostage Terry Anderson greets happy colleagues, Dec. 10, 1991, at The Associated Press headquarters in New York, as he walks with his arm around fiancée Madeleine Bassil, center right. Anderson, the globe-trotting Associated Press correspondent who became one of America’s longest-held hostages after he was snatched from a street in war-torn Lebanon in 1985 and held for nearly seven years, died Sunday, April 21, 2024. He was 76. (AP Photo/Ron Frehm, File)
FILE - Terry Anderson, who was the longest held American hostage in Lebanon, grins with his 6-year-old daughter Sulome, Dec. 4, 1991, as they leave the U.S. Ambassador's residence in Damascus, Syria, following Anderson's release. Anderson, the globe-trotting Associated Press correspondent who became one of America’s longest-held hostages after he was snatched from a street in war-torn Lebanon in 1985 and held for nearly seven years, died Sunday, April 21, 2024. He was 76. (AP Photo/Santiago Lyon, File)
FILE - Former hostage Terry Anderson, the Associated Press chief Middle East correspondent, smiles during a news conference despite his broken glasses, Dec. 6, 1991, in Damascus, Syria. Anderson, the globe-trotting Associated Press correspondent who became one of America’s longest-held hostages after he was snatched from a street in war-torn Lebanon in 1985 and held for nearly seven years, died Sunday, April 21, 2024, at age 76. (AP Photo/Santiago Lyon, File)
FILE - Former hostage Terry Anderson waves to the crowd as he rides in a parade in Lorain, Ohio, June 22, 1992. Anderson, the globe-trotting Associated Press correspondent who became one of America’s longest-held hostages after he was snatched from a street in war-torn Lebanon in 1985 and held for nearly seven years, died Sunday, April 21, 2024. He was 76. (AP Photo/Mark Duncan, File)
