MANSEHRA:A landslide hit an oil tanker on the Karakoram Highway in Upper Kohistan district early on Saturday, killing the driver and conductor and injuringtwo other passengers.

The deceased, Sahibzada and Islamzada,were stated to bebrothers fromShangla.

`The massive landslide, which detached from a mountain along the KKH inthe Pani Bah area, rolled down an oil tanker into a deep ditch leaving the two brothers dead and two other passengers injured,`Upper Kohistandeputy commissioner Tariq Ali Khan told reporters.

Thelarge mass of dirt and rock,which later fell into the Indus River, blocked the KKH to traffic until noon. Mr Khan said rescue workers along with residents retrieved the bodies and the injured and shifted them to the district headquarters hospital in Dasu.

He said he visited the hospital along with the district police officer, additional assistant commissioner and tehsildar, and arranged coffins for the bodies to be transported to their respective destinations through Rescue 1122 ambulances.

The DC said heavy machinery was used to remove boulders from the highway and traffic was restored after around 11 hours.

He said the KKH, except for the Pani Bah area, remained open to traffic.

Meanwhile, the district administration, inconsultation with the Dasu hydropower project`s management and police, rescheduled the closure of the Karakoram Highway to move Chinese engineers and workers to their worksites and back to their residential camps daily.

In a news release, the administration said the move came to ensure the convenience of residents and those travelling between Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Gilgit-Baltistan.

Meanwhile, newfederal minister and PMLNMNA SardarMohammad Yusuf on Saturday urgedthe PTI to abandon the politics of confrontation and said former prime minister Imran Khan`s party should focus on serving the people like otherpolitical groups.

`PTI and its leadership have alwaysadopted undemocratic means-first to cometo power through a stolen mandate and later pushing the country into economic and political turmoil,` MrYusuf said on arrival in Mansehraafter taking the oath as a federal minister.

The PML-N workers shouted slogans for him, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and party leader Nawaz Sharif The minister said he wanted to Hazara from Haripur via the Karakoram Highway to thank residents and party workers for theirsupport, but the Akora Khattak suicide blast forced him to take a different route.

He condemned thebombing as a great tragedy and expressed grief over the death of Maulana Hamadul Haq and other worshippers.

The minister said the government was doing its best to eliminate terrorism, especially from Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

He praised security forces for fighting terrorists bravely to protect public life and property.

Mr Yusuf said Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and leaders of the ruling coalition had taken `tough and unpopular` decisions in the last one year to steer the country out of crises.

He said the economy, which was shattered by the PTI government, was gradually stabilising and the time wasnot far when people would reap its benefits in terms of better employment opportunities and lower prices of essential goods.

The minister said the PTI government in the province should focus on addressing people`s issues instead of threatening the federal government with marches and protests.