Emergency Numbers and Help for Tourists in Gilgit-Baltistan

The main emergency numbers for a Gilgit-Baltistan trip are 1122 for Rescue (ambulance, fire and accident response), 15 for police, and 1422 for the Gilgit-Baltistan Police tourist helpline. All three are short codes dialled the same way as anywhere else in Pakistan, and Rescue 1122 says its services are free. Coverage is patchy once you leave the main towns, so save the numbers and the landlines below before you travel, and agree a plan with your group for when there is no signal at all.

This guide sets out the numbers, who actually answers each one, what to say when you get through, and what to do when you cannot reach anyone by phone.

The numbers to save

Numbers other than the short codes can change. We took them from the Gilgit-Baltistan Police, Rescue 1122 and GB tourism department websites in October 2026; check them again before a long trip.

Who answers: Rescue 1122

Rescue 1122 in Gilgit-Baltistan was set up under the Gilgit-Baltistan Emergency Service Act, 2012, and its first batch of 186 rescuers trained at the Punjab Emergency Services Academy that year. Its headquarters is near Heli Chowk in Jutial, Gilgit, and Baltistan is served from the Rescue 1122 complex at Maqpoonsar, near Radio Pakistan Chowk in Skardu.

The service lists emergency ambulance, fire fighting, and rescue from water, heights and confined spaces, plus a motorbike first-responder service. It also says over 97 per cent of its calls are for ambulances. In practice that means 1122 is the right first call for a road accident, a fall, a medical collapse or a person in the river. It is not a mountain helicopter service: rescue from a high trek or a climbing route is arranged through your operator, as below.

Who answers: the Tourist Police

The Gilgit-Baltistan Police formed a dedicated tourism unit in 2019, starting with 150 trained personnel, according to the then police chief. The force's own site now gives the Tourism Police Unit a strength of 437, with the Karakoram Security Force merged into it.

Its stated job is broader than crime. The unit is meant to give information about destinations and customs, help tourists move along the Karakoram Highway and other routes, respond in emergencies, and take complaints and claims from visitors. That makes 1422 the number to ring for a hotel that will not return your advance, a vehicle dispute, harassment, or a lost member of your group in town. For a crime in progress, 15 is quicker.

What to say when you get through

Callers in the mountains often struggle to describe where they are. Before you ring, work out:

1. The road and the nearest village or bridge, for example "KKH, just north of Rakaposhi viewpoint" or "Skardu road, near Basho".
2. What happened and how many people are hurt, and whether anyone is trapped or in water.
3. A number that will stay on, in case the call drops. Keep that phone charged.

If you can, send your location pin by text as well. On a mountain road a pin is worth more than any description.

What to do if you can't get through

Mobile coverage is reliable in Gilgit, Skardu and the main valley towns, and unreliable or absent on higher roads and passes, including much of the route to Khunjerab, the Deosai plateau, and many side valleys. SCOM, run by the state Special Communications Organization, is the network built to serve Gilgit-Baltistan and Azad Kashmir, including rural areas, so a SCOM SIM alongside your usual one is worth considering.

If you still cannot reach anyone:

• At a hotel or guesthouse, ask staff. Most have a working relationship with local police and Rescue 1122, and a landline or connection even when mobile signal is down.
• On the road, flag down another vehicle. Traffic on the Karakoram Highway and the Skardu road is frequent enough in season that help usually passes.
• In a group, agree a return time and a fallback plan before anyone goes out of signal range. This matters most on the Khunjerab and Deosai routes.
• For a trekking or climbing emergency, contact your tour operator or guide first. Helicopter evacuation from remote ground is normally arranged in advance by expedition operators, not by ringing a public number on the day.

When weather turns: the Babusar floods of July 2025

The worst days for emergency services come in the monsoon. In July 2025 flash floods hit Diamer district: at least five people died, four of them tourists, and 15 were reported missing. A cloudburst at Babusar Top left many visitors stranded, and the Gilgit-Baltistan government said all 250 tourists stuck on the Babusar road were rescued and moved to Chilas, where hotel owners and the government gave free accommodation (Geo News, 23 July 2025).

The lessons are practical. In July and August, check the forecast and road status each morning, don't drive into a nullah in spate, and stop where police or Rescue staff tell you to. Rescue 1122 also issues weather and landslide alerts, so follow its channels during the monsoon.

Hospitals for serious cases

For anything beyond first aid, the district headquarters hospitals in Gilgit and Skardu are the main referral points, alongside the Combined Military Hospitals in both cities and Aga Khan Health Service facilities along the Hunza valley. Our guide to medical facilities in Gilgit-Baltistan covers which hospitals to head for. If anyone in your group is going high, read our altitude sickness guide before you go: descending early is the treatment, and no phone call replaces it.

Road status and landslides

Roads in Gilgit-Baltistan, especially the Karakoram Highway and the Babusar route, close without much warning after heavy rain or a landslide. There is no single public hotline for road status that we can point you to with confidence, so ask locally: your hotel, your driver or the nearest police post will usually know within hours. District administration and police social media pages are faster than any general helpline for this kind of update.

Before you go

• Save 1122, 15, 1422 and the landlines above in your phone before you lose signal, not after.
• Keep a paper note of your hotel's number and your tour operator's number, in case your phone is lost, damaged or flat.
• Carry your CNIC (or passport and visa, for foreign nationals), since it is asked for at checkpoints and needed for police or hospital help.
• If anyone has a medical condition, carry a note of it and their regular medication in the car rather than packed away.

Our travel guide has more on planning a safe trip through the region, including altitude and road conditions by season.

Frequently asked questions