A powerful snowstorm in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Dir district has closed the Lowari Tunnel which connects the country to its northwestern region of Chitral in the Hindu Kush mountains.

The tunnel has been closed on both ends, Aaj News reported Friday afternoon.

The 10.4-kilometer-long tunnel runs between the Chitral and Upper Dir districts of KP province.

There was a powerful snowstorm on the Upper Dir side at around 1pm on Friday which hampered road traffic.

A similar situation was seen on the Chitral side where an avalanche blocked the road.

Small groups of tourists have been stranded in the area on both sides. They have been forced to take shelter at local hotels, which were charging them unusually high rates, tourism department officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity told Aaj News

There was no word on the rescue of the tourists by Friday evening and people began to voice their concerns on social media.

A fresh spell of snowfall started at around 9am this morning. It followed another spell that closed several link roads in Dir last week, according to Nasir Zada.