Seven volunteers repairing drainage channel killed by mudslide
Rescuers recovered the bodies after the mudslide hit the town of Danyor in Gilgit-Baltistan at dawn and transported the injured to a hospital, said Faizullah Faraq, a regional government spokesperson.
Advertisement
The deaths came a day after a flash flood triggered by a glacial lake outburst damaged the key Karakoram highway, which passes through Danyor, disrupting traffic and trade between Pakistan and China. Engineers and workers were deployed along with heavy machinery to start repairs, Mr Faraq said on Monday.
Meanwhile, several landslides near the damaged mountainous highway left homes damaged in Danyor and nearby areas as first responders evacuated those affected by the floods to safer areas, said Hassan Ali, a local police chief, adding that essential foods were being provided to those displaced.
Local residents look at a damaged portion of the Karakoram highway near Gilgit, in northern Pakistan (AP Photo)
Sunday's glacial lake outburst was huge, Mr Ali said, swelling the Hunza river and triggering flash flooding that battered crops. Authorities were still assessing the damage, he said.
The region's chief minister, Gulbar Khan, called the seven who died 'heroes who sacrificed their lives for the community' in a statement on Monday.
Advertisement
Gilgit-Baltistan is known for its scenic glaciers that provide 75% of the country's stored water supply, according to the region's official website.
Last month, it was hit by landslides, killing 18 tourists when flash floods swept away their vehicles.
Experts say glacial lake outburst floods occur when water dammed by a glacier is suddenly released, often because ice or debris barriers collapse.
Scientists say rising temperatures linked to climate change are accelerating glacier melt in Pakistan's northern mountains, increasing both the size and number of these lakes.
Advertisement
A study released last week by World Weather Attribution, a network of international scientists, found rainfall from June 24 to July 23 was 10% to 15% heavier because of global warming.
Pakistan produces less than 1% of the world's greenhouse gases, but research shows it suffers disproportionately from extreme weather.
In 2022, its worst monsoon season on record killed more than 1,700 people and caused an estimated £30 billion in damage.
Rains and floods since June 26 have killed more than 300 people across Pakistan.
Advertisement
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Daily Mail
an hour ago
- Daily Mail
Three people, including a child, are crushed to death by falling tree as catastrophic flooding wrecks Tennessee
A falling tree killed three people, including one child, as disastrous flooding wrecked Tennessee overnight. The tree crushed a car with three passengers inside in East Ridge - about 15 minutes outside of Chattanooga - early Wednesday morning. Nearly seven inches of rain fell Tuesday evening, leading to catastrophic flooding in the area. Hamilton County Mayor Weston Wamp declared a state of emergency just before 8am Wednesday and will remain in effect until 9.30pm. Schools in the county are also closed along with several roadways, including I-24, due to the heavy rainfall.
Reuters
an hour ago
- Reuters
Wildfires fanned by heatwave and strong winds rage across Europe
PATRAS, Greece,/MADRID, Aug 13 (Reuters) - Wildfires caused by arsonists or thunderstorms and fanned by a heatwave and strong winds continued to rage across southern Europe on Wednesday, burning houses, farms and factories and forcing the evacuation of thousands of residents and tourists. Flames and dark smoke billowed over a cement factory that was set alight by a wildfire that swept through olive groves and forests and disrupted rail traffic on the outskirts of the Greek city of Patras, west of Athens. "What does it look like? It looks like doomsday. May God help us and help the people here,' said Giorgos Karvanis, a volunteer who had come from Athens to Patras to help. Authorities ordered residents of a town of about 7,700 people near Patras to evacuate on Tuesday and issued new alerts on Wednesday, advising residents of two nearby villages to leave. On the Greek islands of Chios, in the east, and Cephalonia, in the west, both popular with tourists, authorities told people to move to safety as fires spread. In Spain, a volunteer firefighter died from severe burns and several people were hospitalised as state weather agency AEMET warned that almost all of the country was at extreme or very high risk of fire. The 35-year-old man had been attempting to create firebreaks near the town of Nogarejas, in the central Castile and Leon region, when he was trapped in the blaze, regional officials said. He was the sixth person to die this year in wildfires in Spain. Others include two firefighters in Tarragona and Avila, according to emergency services. Working in unprepared landscapes puts firefighters' lives at risk, said Alexander Held, a senior expert in fire management at the European Forest Institute. Authorities should make more effort to anticipate and prevent wildfires by creating buffer zones and clearing combustible vegetation, he said. "Take an industrial building and imagine there would be no fire detectors, no sprinkler systems, no fire protection doors and no escape routes – firefighters would just refuse to go in, but in our landscape we expect them to do this," Held said. Investing 1 billion euros a year in forest management could save 9.9 million hectares - an area the size of Portugal - and 99 billion euros spent on fighting fires and restoration work afterwards, according to Greenpeace. The group estimated the cost so far of fires in Spain at 615 million euros. Spanish Environment Minister Sara Aagesen told the SER radio station that many fires across the country were thought to be the work of arsonists due to their "virulence". A male firefighter was arrested on Tuesday for fires started in the Avila area north of Madrid two weeks ago, while police said on Tuesday they were investigating a 63-year-old woman for allegedly starting fires in Galicia's Muxia area in August. Police have also identified a suspect who is believed to have suffered burns to his hands after starting a small fire in a beachfront development in the southern coastal Cadiz area, Europa Press reported. Thunderstorms have caused other fires. On Tuesday, shortly after 5 p.m., Andalusia's fire department was flooded with calls by residents reporting a fire caused by a lightning strike on a chestnut and oak forest in Los Romeros, north of the city of Huelva. The fire prompted the evacuation of around 250 residents but was largely controlled by Wednesday morning. A blaze in Trancoso in Portugal that has been burning since Saturday got worse during the night as a lightning reignited an area that was thought safe, the civil protection service said. In Albania, Defence Minister Pirro Vengu said it was a "critical week", with several major wildfires burning across the country. Some 10,000 firefighters, soldiers and police emergency units struggled with a total of 24 wildfires on Wednesday, the defence ministry said. Flames reached two villages in the centre of the country, forcing villagers to flee, taking their livestock with them. "We are going in the middle of two rivers because the fire has arrived," said Hajri Dragoti, 68, from Narte, who fled with his wife taking a cow, a donkey and a dog. "We can't do anything, it is like gunpowder." Spain was in its 10th day of a heatwave that peaked on Tuesday with temperatures as high as 45 degrees Celsius (113 degrees Fahrenheit), and which AEMET expected to last until Monday, making it one of the longest on record. Pope Leo moved his weekly audience from St. Peter's Square to an indoor venue in the Vatican, "to stay a little bit out of the sun and the extreme heat" as Italy's health ministry issued extreme heat warnings for 16 cities on Wednesday, with temperatures forecast to peak at 39C (102F) in Florence.
The Independent
2 hours ago
- The Independent
Parents and child killed when tree falls on car amid heavy rain, flooding in Tennessee
A mother, father and child were killed when a tree fell on their car amid heavy rain and flooding in Tennessee, an official said Wednesday. The three were killed when saturated ground caused a large tree to fall in the Chattanooga suburb of East Ridge just after midnight, Hamilton County Office of Emergency Management spokesperson Amy Maxwell said by telephone. The full extent of the damage isn't yet known, Maxwell said. County officials will tour the damage in the East Ridge area on Wednesday morning, she said. The flooding prompted rescues of people stuck in homes and swamped vehicles on Tuesday, and the region was bracing for more rainfall and flooding Wednesday. Hamilton County Mayor Weston Wamp declared a local state of emergency Tuesday night as first responders responded to flash flooding and urged people to exercise extreme caution. The National Weather Service issued a flood watch for much of middle Tennessee through Wednesday night, warning of scattered flash flooding with tropical-like heavy rainfall and the possibility of training storms, especially over already saturated areas. Chattanooga Fire crews rescued motorists trapped in vehicles and residents stuck in their homes, fire department officials said. Flooding closed parts of Interstate 24 in the area, but it reopened once floodwaters receded. Swiftwater rescue teams rescued residents of three East Ridge homes trapped by rising flood waters, according to the Hamilton County Sheriff's Office. Sheriff Austin Garrett said the flooding was more extensive than he had seen before, noting that it is usually concentrated in one area, The Chattanooga Times Free Press reported. 'This is extremely widespread. It made it difficult for us to even get here ourselves to try to help other people,' he said. 'So no, I've never seen it to this extent, this widespread in so many areas and impacting travel the way it is.'
