Mother-daughter duo escape quake-hit Muzaffarabad

A mother-daughter duo from Jammu and Kashmir, who was visiting Pakistan occupied Kashmir when the killer quake struck, on Friday managed to reach Rawalpindi from Muzaffarabad by road with the help of relatives after spending some harrowing days in the worst-hit area even as efforts were on to locate 44 other Indian nationals.

44-year-old Nuzahat Basheer and her eight-year-old daughter Tahannya, who survived the quake without injuries, contacted the Indian High Commission for help after reaching Rawalpindi. She, along with her daughter, would be sent home through Wagah border in the next few days, the Indian High Commission officials in islamabad said.

Basheer, who arrived in PoK by the Srinagar-Muzafarabad bus on Septeber 22 to visit her sister and her family, told Press Trust of India over phone that she along with her daughter managed to escape from a collapsing house in Muzaffarabad when the massive earthquake hit the region on Saturday, and went through a harrowing time in the next three days. "We barely survived. Many of my close relatives were killed and injured. I cannot explain to you the terrible time we went through to reach Rawalpindi," she said.

After three days of desperate attempts to get out of Muzaffarabad, which was devastated in the quake, she managed to drive down in a relative's car along with her sister. "It took about nine hours for us to reach Islamabad. But I am happy we are safe," she said.

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