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Yahoo
31 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Pakistan floods leave 220 dead as rescuers pull 63 more bodies from landslides
Rescuers in north-west Pakistan have pulled 63 more bodies from homes flattened by flash floods and landslides, raising the death toll from rain-related incidents to at least 220, officials said. Pakistan has had above-normal rain which experts link to climate change, leading to floods and mudslides that have killed about 541 people since June 26, according to the National Disaster Management Authority. Hundreds of rescue workers are still searching for survivors in Buner, one of several districts hit in the province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, where torrential rain and cloudbursts triggered massive flooding on Friday, said Mohammad Suhail, a spokesman for the emergency services. Dozens of homes were swept away. First responders have been trying to recover bodies in the worst-hit villages of Pir Baba and Malik Pura, where most people died on Friday, according to Kashif Qayyum, a deputy commissioner in Buner. A local police officer, Imtiaz Khan, who narrowly escaped the deluges, said floodwaters carrying hundreds of boulders flattened dozens of homes within minutes in Buner. 'A stream near the Pir Baba village in Buner swelled without warning. At first, we thought it was a normal flash flood, but when tons of rocks came crashing down with the water, 60 to 70 houses were swept away in moments,' he told the Associated Press, adding that many bodies were left mutilated. 'Our police station was washed away too, and if we hadn't climbed to higher ground, we would not have survived,' he said. Rescuers said that as water started to recede, they saw large swathes of the village destroyed, wrecked homes and giant rocks filling the streets. 'It was not just the floodwater, it was a flood of boulders as well, which we saw the first time in our lives,' said Sultan Syed, 45, who suffered a broken arm. Mohammad Khan, 53, said the floods 'came so fast that many could not leave their homes', he said. Most of the victims died before reaching hospital, said Mohammad Tariq, a doctor at a government hospital in Buner. 'Many among the dead were children and men, while women were away in the hills collecting firewood and grazing cattle,' he said. Mourners attended mass funerals on Saturday as authorities supplied tents and food to people in Buner. According to the provincial disaster management authority, at least 351 people have died in rain-related incidents this week across Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and the northern region of Gilgit-Baltistan. Meanwhile, in Indian-controlled Kashmir, rescuers scoured the remote village of Chositi in the district of Kishtwar on Saturday, looking for dozens of missing people after it was hit by flash floods two days ago, killing 60 and injuring 150. Thursday's floods struck during an annual Hindu pilgrimage in the area. Authorities have rescued more than 300 people while 4,00 pilgrims have been taken to safety. Such cloudbursts are increasingly common in India's Himalayan regions and Pakistan's northern areas, and experts have said climate change is a contributing factor. Pakistani officials said rescuers have evacuated more than 3,500 tourists trapped in flood-hit areas across the country since Thursday. Many tourists have ignored government warnings that urged people to avoid flood-hit regions in the northern and north-western regions, fearing more landslides and flash floods.
Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Yahoo
Pakistan rescuers recover bodies after monsoon rains kill 320
Rescuers were struggling to retrieve bodies from debris after flash floods triggered by heavy monsoon rains across northern Pakistan killed at least 321 people in the past 48 hours, authorities said on Saturday. The majority of deaths, 307, were reported in mountainous Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, the Provincial Disaster Management Authority said. Most were killed in flash floods and collapsing houses, with the dead including 15 women and 13 children. At least 23 others were injured. The provincial rescue agency told AFP that around 2,000 rescue workers were engaged in recovering bodies from the debris and carrying out relief operations in nine affected districts where rain was still hampering efforts. "Heavy rainfall, landslides in several areas, and washed-out roads are causing significant challenges in delivering aid, particularly in transporting heavy machinery and ambulances," Bilal Ahmed Faizi, spokesman for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa's rescue agency, told AFP. "Due to road closures in most areas, rescue workers are travelling on foot to conduct operations in remote regions," he added. "They are trying to evacuate survivors, but very few people are relocating due to the deaths of their relatives or loved ones being trapped in the debris." The provincial government has declared the severely affected mountainous districts of Buner, Bajaur, Swat, Shangla, Mansehra and Battagram as disaster-hit areas. The meteorological department has issued a heavy rain alert for Pakistan's northwest for the next few hours, urging people to take "precautionary measures". Nine more people were killed in Pakistan-administered Kashmir, while five died in the northern Gilgit-Baltistan region, the national disaster authority said. Another five people, including two pilots, were killed when a local government helicopter crashed due to bad weather during a relief mission on Friday. - 'Doomsday' monsoon - The monsoon season brings South Asia about three-quarters of its annual rainfall, vital for agriculture and food security, but it also brings destruction. Landslides and flash floods are common during the season, which usually begins in June and eases by the end of September. Syed Muhammad Tayyab Shah, a representative of the national disaster agency, told AFP that this year's monsoon season began earlier than usual and was expected to end later. "The next 15 days... the intensity of the monsoon will further exacerbate," he said. One resident likened the disaster to "doomsday". "I heard a loud noise as if the mountain was sliding. I rushed outside and saw the entire area shaking, like it was the end of the world," Azizullah, a resident of Buner district, where there have been dozens of deaths and injuries, told AFP. "I thought it was doomsday," he said. "The ground was trembling due to the force of the water, and it felt like death was staring me in the face." In Bajaur, a tribal district abutting Afghanistan, a crowd gathered around an excavator digging through a mud-soaked hill. On Friday, funeral prayers began in a paddock nearby, with people grieving in front of several bodies covered by blankets. The torrential rains that have pounded Pakistan since the start of the summer monsoon, described as "unusual" by authorities, have killed more than 600 people. In July, Punjab, home to nearly half of Pakistan's 255 million people, recorded 73 percent more rainfall than the previous year and more deaths than in the entire previous monsoon. Pakistan is one of the world's most vulnerable countries to the effects of climate change, and its population is contending with extreme weather events with increasing frequency. Monsoon floods in 2022 submerged a third of the country and killed around 1,700 people. Another villager in Buner told AFP locals kept on searching through the rubble throughout the night. "The entire area is reeling from profound trauma," 32-year-old local schoolteacher Saifullah Khan told AFP. "We still have no clear idea who in this small village is alive and who is dead," he added. "I help retrieve the bodies of the children I taught, I keep wondering what kind of trial nature has imposed on these kids." la-zz/mtp
Yahoo
3 hours ago
- Yahoo
At least 225 people killed in monsoon flash floods in Pakistan
The death toll from heavy monsoon rains that have triggered flash floods across northern Pakistan has risen to at least 225 people in the past 48 hours, the country's disaster authority said Saturday. Flash floods triggered by torrential rains have killed at least 225 people in northern Pakistan in the past 48 hours, officials said on Saturday. The majority of the deaths, 211, were recorded in mountainous Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, according to the National Disaster Management Authority. Nine more people were killed in Pakistan-administered Kashmir, while five died in the northern Gilgit-Baltistan region, it said. Most were killed in flash floods and collapsing houses, while 21 others were injured. The meteorological department has issued a heavy rain alert for Pakistan's northwest for the next few hours, urging people to take "precautionary measures". Hundreds of rescue workers are still searching for survivors in Buner, a mountainous district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province where torrential rains and cloudbursts triggered massive flooding on Friday, said Mohammad Suhail, a spokesman for the emergency services. Dozens of homes were swept away. According to the provincial disaster management authority, at least 351 people have died in rain-related incidents this week across Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and the northern region of Gilgit-Baltistan. Such cloudbursts are increasingly common in India's Himalayan regions and Pakistan's northern areas, and experts have said climate change is a contributing factor. FRANCE 24 with AFP, AP
