14 including seven in Bajaur die in rain-related incidents

KHAR: Seven people were killed and five others sustained injuries in rain-related incidents in various places in Bajaur Agency on Saturday.

Tribal sources said that five people died and another five were injured when the roof of a seminary collapsed in Makha area in Mamond tehsil.

Soon after the incident, the officials of the political administration and Pakistan Army soldiers and local people rushed to the spot and pulled out the dead and injured from the rubble.

The dead were identified as Salahuddin, Hazrat Gul, Khalid, Wajid and Sadiq.

It couldn’t be confirmed whether the dead were seminary students or other people.

Two of the five injured were stated to be in a critical condition and were taken to a hospital in Peshawar.

Also, the wife of one Dawai Khan was killed in a wall collapse in Niag area in Mamond.

In Khar tehsil, a man identified as Rehmanuddin was also killed in a wall collapse incident in Kosar area.

Meanwhile, Assistant Political Agent of Khar Arif Khan and Assistant Political Agent of Nawagai Anwarul Haq visited the Agency Headquarters Hospital in Khar to inquire after the health of the injured.

In Nowshehra, one person, Sartaj, 40, was killed in roof collapse incident in Mohallah Gulabad.

In Mardan, one Ishaq, resident of Hoti, was killed when a signboard fell on him near police station petrol pump on main road.

Similarly, due to heavy rain and gusty winds, a tree fell on a vehicle in Yakhtangi area of Alpuri Tehsil in Shangla district. Amir Bustan, resident of Chowga, died on spot and 5 others were injured

One woman was killed when the roof of a house collapsed in Amrozai area in Safi tehsil.

Shahid Hussain Yousafzai in Lower Dir adds: Four women were killed and seven persons injured when a Rawalpindi-bound coaster collided with the army truck at Shago Kas area near Zulam Pul in Lower Dir district late on Saturday, police and hospital sources said.

They said the coaster, which was on way to Rawalpindi from Chitral, rammed into the army truck at Shago Kas, some five kilometres from Timergara city.

As a result, four women died on the spot and seven persons sustained injuries.

The dead were identified as wife of Muhammad Ashraf of Abbottabad, wife of Abdul Sattar, Gujrat, daughter of Zar Alam and wife of Gulzar Khan from Chitral.

The injured were rushed to District Headquarters (DHQ) Hospital Timergara where condition of some of the injured is stated to be critical.

Heavy downpour and windstorm and fog may have caused the accident.

Gusty wind, rain interrupt power supply: The residents here on Saturday suffered enormously as the provincial capital was hit by gusty wind, thunderstorm and rain in the evening.

The city received about six millimeter rain that turned the Grand Trunk Road into a canal in isolated places right from the Haji Camp to the Board area along the under-construction corridor of the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT).

The dwellers of the city and its surrounding localities faced hardships due to power outages as power supply was suspended to majority of the areas with the start of the rains at about 4pm.

The power supply could not be restored to these areas till the filing of this story.

There were worst traffic jams at the University Road and some places on GT Road in the city and vehicles remained stuck for hours in these places.

According to the Met regional office, thunderstorm coupled with torrential rain occurred at scattered places in Malakand, Hazara, Mardan, Peshawar, Kohat and Dera Ismail Khan divisions and tribal areas.

It reported that Upper Dir received 04 millimeter, Lower Dir 11 mm, Chitral 05mm, Drosh 06mm, Saidu Sharif 06 mm, Malam Jabba 15 mm, Kohat 02 mm, Mirkhani 11mm, Pattan 04mm, Kalam 14mm, Kakul 03mm, Balakot 07mm, Peshawar 03, Parachinar 06mm while Dera Ismail Khan received light shower.

It further reported that partly cloudy weather was expected in most parts of the region.

However, thunderstorm and rain associated with strong gusty winds was expected at scattered places in Upper Dir, Lower Dir, Swat, Shangla, Chitral, Malakand, Abbottabad, Mansehra, Battagram, Kohistan, Haripur, Torghar, Mardan, Swabi, Peshawar, Charsadda, Nowshera, Kohat, Hangu, Karak districts and Kurram, Bajaur, Mohmand, Orakzai, Khyber agencies, while at isolated places in Bannu, Lakki Marwat, Dera Ismail Khan and Tank districts and North and South Waziristan agencies.