The lake was formed due to a massive landslide at Attabad village in Gojal Valley in Gilgit-Baltistan, 14 km upstream (east) of Karimabad that occurred on 4 January 2010. The landslide killed twenty people and blocked the flow of the Hunza River for five months. The lake flooding has displaced 6,000 people from upstream villages, stranded (from land transportation routes) a further 25,000, and inundated over 19 km of the Karakoram Highway. The lake reached 21 km long and over 330 ft in depth by the first week of June 2010 when it began flowing over the landslide dam, completely submerging lower Shishkat and partly flooding Gulmit. The subdivision of Gojal has the greatest number of flooded buildings, over 170 houses, and 120 shops.
Now it is the most attractive Tourist Point of Gigit-Baltistan. People around the different parts of the country and world visit this lake.
