Whose fault is this?

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A few days ago the village of Murree, a resort in the mountains about 25 miles/ 40 km north of Islamabad in Pakistan, was hit by heavy snow. Some people apparently posted images on social media showing themselves playing in it. As a result a lot of people decided they wanted to see for themselves and join in the fun. Since the resort is relatively close to the capital city of course there were a lot of people within what would (in summer) be comfortable driving distance. On mountain roads in winter though it is a different story, and a severe weather warning was in force. Nevertheless a lot of people set off on Friday but the snow naturally caused problems on the roads and combined with the traffic jam resulted in many cars getting stuck. Over 157,000 vehicles attempted the journey on the narrow mountain roads. Meanwhile more snow arrived - more than four feet fell overnight from Friday into Saturday. Consequently thousands of people were trapped in their cars for hours while the snow fell and the night-time temperatures dropped. By the time the roads were made passable and the cars were dug out, twenty-one people had died, including a police officer (who surely should have known better) plus his wife and six children. What a tragedy. But now the blame game is starting. People are blaming the government of course. Is it really the government’s job to ask every person whether they really should be travelling in severe weather just because they saw a pretty picture on Instagram? I don't have a photo of snow-blocked mountain roads so here's some pretty winter scenery instead! All rights reserved. © Text and image copyright Fleur 2022.