A monument was unveiled Monday in the northern Pakistani city of Gilgit to memorize up to 400 Chinese who died decades ago during the construction of the Karakoram Highway.

Chinese Ambassador to Pakistan Zhang Chunxiang and Pakistan's Federal Minister of Tourism Syiad Ghazi Gulab Jamal unveiled the monument in the center of the cemetery along the Karakoram Highway and laid wreaths.

The Karakoram Highway, also known as the China-Pakistan Friendship Highway, was constructed in two phases from 1966 to 1978. It is a major engineering project in Pakistan built with Chinese assistance.

To build the part of the 806-km highway between Khunjerab Pass on China-Pakistan border in the north and Thakot Bridge of Pakistan in the south which is 613 kilometers long, the Chinese and the Pakistanis both braved extreme hardships and dangers and finally turned the insurmountable natural barrier into a thoroughfare.

Icy peaks, snowy wilderness and steep precipices of the Karakoram Mountain took away hundreds of young Chinese builders' lives. Eighty-eight of them have been buried in the cemetery .

"Their commendable endeavor gave birth to the symbol of China- Pakistan friendship and created miracle in the history of road construction," Ambassador Zhang said.

Source: Xinhua