PESHAWAR: The rain and snowfall continued to lash parts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on Saturday, triggering road closures and prompting the chief minister to issue directives to the authorities concerned to provide prompt relief to the land slide affectees in Shangla district and elsewhere in the province.
At least three children were killed and four women injured when the landslide hit a house in Faizabad area Alpuri, the headquarters of Shangla district, on Friday night. Locals said the relief workers also recovered the body of Khurshid, the owner of the house, after hours of effort. They said the relief operation in the area was going on and the road in the area was yet to be reopened.
A team of the Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA) visited Shangla and directed the district administration to provide relief packages to the victims of the landslide incident.
The PDMA team assured the victim’s family that a relief package would be given according to the policy. Officials said that Rs0.3 million was given to the deceased and Rs 0.1 million to injured, adding, Rs30,000 to Rs 0.1 million were given to those whose houses were partially or fully damaged.
Chief Minister Mahmood Khan had directed the district administration and relief agencies to expedite the rescue operation in the landslide-hit area in Alpuri and provide best healthcare facilities to the injured. He also asked the doctors to provide all possible medical treatment to the injured.
Mahmood Khan said that all possible help and support should be provided to travelers and tourists.
Meanwhile, a child was killed and his mother and two other brothers sustained injuries when the roof of a room caved in in Khanokhel North area in Paharpur tehsil of Dera Ismail Khan district on Saturday.
The locals said that the mud-thatched house of one Muhammad Hanif Khanokhel, a poor labourer, collapsed due to continuous heavy rain in the area.
They said that the family members, including the wife of Muhammad Hanif Khanokhel and his three children named Amir, Waqar and Tahir were busy taking their meals when all of a sudden the structure caved in.
As a result, all the family members were buried under the debris alive.The locals rescued the victims in seriously injured condition and shifted them to the hospital.
One of the injured identified as Amir, 4, later succumbed to his injuries at the hospital.
Also, the Lowari Tunnel was closed for traffic temporarily due to heavy snowfall to avoid any untoward incident.
An official said that work was underway to clear the road leading to Lowari Tunnel and asked tourists to avoid unnecessary travel.
Our correspondent from Swat adds: The weather turned chillier as rain in the plain areas and snowfall in the mountainous spots continued for the fourth consecutive day on Saturday.
The rain coupled with snowfall continued intermittently in the plains and hilly areas, including Kalam, Mahodhand, Sangar, Gabin Jabba and Malam Jabba. The cold intensified due to the continuous rain and snowfall during the second spell started on Wednesday last. The snow started in Kalam, Utror, Matiltan, Ushu, Gabral, Mankiyal, Bahrain, Malam Jabba and Gabin Jabba in Swat.
The residents faced greater hardships due to hours-long electricity and gas loadshedding.
Meanwhile, a large number of tourists from across the country flocked to the tourist spots, including Kalam, Mahodhand, Sangar, Gabin Jabba and Malam Jabba to enjoy the snowfall.
Families were seen enjoying the snowfall in the tourist attractions of the district.
Our correspondent from Mansehra adds: The upper parts of Hazara division on Saturday received a fresh spell of rain and snowfall.
The snowfall, which started in the high altitude parts of the Hazara division in the early hours, continued intermittently the entire day, turning the weather chilly.
The Konsh, Siran and Kaghan valleys and tourist resort of Shogran in the Mansehra district and Spat and Kandia valleys in Kohistan district received snowfall. The links roads leading to Siran and Konsh valleys from main arteries were blocked because of the landslides.
The fresh rain spell also started in Mansehra, Torghar, Kolai-Palas, Upper Kohistan and Lower Kohistan districts.