QUETTA.
A two-member polio team along with two police escorts went missing from a remote area of Balochistan ‘Zhob’ district on Friday.
“Two polio workers escorted by two constables of the Balochistan Levies left the district headquarters at 11pm to vaccinate children in the Murgha Gibzai area – but they have not reached their destination,” Zhob’s Deputy Commissioner Nazir Ahmed Khetran told a private media outlet.
“It is a remote area. There is no proper communication system. Which is why we are facing difficulty in tracing them,” he said.
Vaccinators often go to the remote areas and return the next day, a Levies official said.
The polio team was supposed to conduct a vaccination campaign in Murgha Gibzai, Toda Ghibzai and Barkwal union councils. However, they did not reach their destination.
The missing polio workers have been identified as Samad, driver, and Hameed, vaccinator, and Levies constables as Naseem and Ayub.
Deputy Commissioner Zhob confirmed to a private media outlet that a team had been sent to trace the missing men. “I cannot confirm whether they have been kidnapped,” he added.
Zhob is one of the ‘high-risk’ areas with regard to polio vaccination.
