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In photos: Chitral residents beat summer heat with glacier ice

By Alamgir Khan

Chitral residents break off glacier ice on July 1. [Alamgir Khan]

Chitral residents break off glacier ice on July 1. [Alamgir Khan]

A Chitral resident helps another to carry a block of ice on July 1. [Alamgir Khan]

A Chitral resident helps another to carry a block of ice on July 1. [Alamgir Khan]

A Chitral resident carries ice from a glacier July 1. [Alamgir Khan]

A Chitral resident carries ice from a glacier July 1. [Alamgir Khan]

A Chitral resident carries glacier ice on his back on July 1. [Alamgir Khan]

A Chitral resident carries glacier ice on his back on July 1. [Alamgir Khan]

Chitral truck drivers load blocks of glacier ice on July 1. [Alamgir Khan]

Chitral truck drivers load blocks of glacier ice on July 1. [Alamgir Khan]

Chitral residents carry blocks of glacier ice from a mountaintop to the Chitral bazaar July 1. [Alamgir Khan]

Chitral residents carry blocks of glacier ice from a mountaintop to the Chitral bazaar July 1. [Alamgir Khan]

Chitral residents sell glacier ice July 1 in the Chitral bazaar. [Alamgir Khan]

Chitral residents sell glacier ice July 1 in the Chitral bazaar. [Alamgir Khan]

CHITRAL -- Residents of Chitral District, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, are using an antique solution for cooling as long power outages render electric refrigerators useless.

"Because of 10- to 16-hour-long power outages in Chitral District, refrigerators can't make ice," Ibad Shah, a resident of Chitral, told Pakistan Forward.

Instead, residents rely on glacier ice brought to the Chitral bazaar.

"We buy glacier ice in the market brought by local truck drivers from the mountaintops," Shah said.

Chitral residents extract ice from a glacier on July 1. [Alamgir Khan]

Chitral residents extract ice from a glacier on July 1. [Alamgir Khan]

"It is a profitable business for us in the summer," said truck driver Khyal Said.

"We make between Rs. 3,000-4,000 ($19-$25) a day," he said.

With the return of peace and security, thousands of tourists visited Chitral and other valleys of Malakand Division for Eid earlier this year.

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