Search and rescue

by Qurat-ul-ain Gul (Pakistan)

A leap into the unknown Pakistan

I live in the small village adjacent to Pakistan's most famous Hill Resort called Murree. it was established in the eighties as a summer Resort by The British who ruled Pakistan India from ___1857________ to ______1947__________ because of its hilly terrain converted By thick pine growth the pleasant weather where dents touch the ground. a lot of tourists voice story dates back to _______2009_____ when I was in 6th grade. our school run by Pakistan Air Force hand organized track. it was winter, tracks were covered with 3 to 4 feets snow. The expedition had about 30 participants. it started at 10 30 hours with 5 teams by 1700 hours most of the team members had returned except one. my team was the first to report back. we kept on waiting till 1700 hours after that our teachers started getting worried. “ where can they go?" asked a class teacher, a few kids answered they had seen them at the turning point. They had the plan to go to a green hut built at top of the hills. soon they disappeared The Lost team compromise members from 6 to 8. it was a challenging moment about an hour to sunset. in those days we never had any mobile systems to establish contact. the reports were they had not reached the green hut. the temperature was falling down. being a local I volunteered for Search and rescue with five team members from different teams being a team leader I selected my team from local students who were comparatively acclimatized. we started when the sunlight was still there we followed the track leading to the greenhouse and reach there after 3 hours. I was carrying a rucksack Which had few items for first aid and a torch and ice ace. I called my team to decide what to do next discuss different possibilities and concluded they had lost the direction. after 30 minutes we started falling back highly disappointed one of a team member saw 2 to 3 torches down the track. they are female team members and unknown areas with you beaten track. we headed towards those lights. these people were way down in hilly drain. Big a local I can't imagine how difficult it would be to follow the following stream where possibilities of falling down were much more. I start searching tracks from the map that could lead one and soon I found the track on the map and on the ground. it was freezing cold after a lot of effort we reached. we were tired, fatigued and following a snow stream. they could not scale those cliffs. so after giving them first aid, we guided them on the lost track. slowly and gradually we started coming back with a few cookies and chocolates we survived. we were so tired we spent that night in forest burning woods and water from a string. by first light, we started going back and reached our school at 0800 hours. Air Force team had been sent but no one met us. very soon they were informed on wireless to fall back I and my team your highly appreciated and awarded “ tracking color” by the principal.