Emergency Numbers and Help for Tourists in Gilgit-Baltistan

The main emergency numbers for a Gilgit-Baltistan trip are 1122 for Rescue (ambulance and accident response), 15 for police, and 1422 for the dedicated tourist police helpline, all dialled the same way as anywhere else in Pakistan. Coverage is patchy once you leave the main towns, so it helps to save these numbers before you travel and agree a plan with your group for when there is no signal at all.

This guide sets out the numbers, what each service actually covers, and what to do when you cannot reach anyone by phone.

The main numbers

Rescue 1122 in Gilgit-Baltistan was set up under the Gilgit-Baltistan Emergency Service Act, 2012, and covers road accidents, fires and disasters as well as medical emergencies, with district control rooms in Gilgit, Skardu, Astore and the other districts. The Gilgit-Baltistan Police also run a dedicated Tourist Police unit, reachable on the 1422 helpline, set up specifically to help visitors with accidents, scams, harassment or simply finding the right office in an unfamiliar town.

What to do if you can't get through

Mobile coverage in Gilgit-Baltistan 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. If you cannot reach any of the numbers above:

• At a hotel or guesthouse, ask staff. Most have a working relationship with local police and Rescue 1122, and a landline or working connection even when mobile signal is down.
• On the road, flag down another vehicle. Traffic on the main routes (the Karakoram Highway, the Skardu road) is frequent enough in season that help usually passes within a reasonable time.
• In a group, agree a return time and a fallback plan before anyone goes out of signal range, whether that is a short walk or a day trip to a high pass. This matters most on the Khunjerab and Deosai routes, where a plan beats trying to call for help that can't connect.
• For a serious mountain or trekking emergency, contact your tour operator or guide first if you are travelling with one; they typically hold better local contacts than a generic emergency number for evacuation from remote ground.

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 and what to expect once you're there.

Road status and landslides

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

Before you go

• Save 1122, 15 and 1422 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 out of charge.
• Carry your CNIC (or passport and visa, for foreign nationals), since it is asked for at checkpoints and needed if you do need police or hospital assistance.
• If anyone in your group has a medical condition, carry a note of it and any regular medication in the car rather than packed away, in case you need to explain it quickly to a stranger or a clinic.

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

Frequently asked questions