Death toll in KP rain-related incidents jumps to 25

PESHAWAR: Death toll from rain-related incidents in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa reached 25 as eight more deaths were reported on Sunday while the number of injured persons jumped to 47.

As many as 87 houses were damaged and 11 destroyed in the province when torrential rains wreaked havoc during the last four days. The Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA)’s list showed one each death in Mardan and Swabi and two from Khyber due to roof collapse incidents, raising the Saturday’s tally of 17 to 21.

However, The News correspondents reported three cases from Swabi and two from Hangu, thus raising the number to 25. According to our correspondent, three people, including two young cousins, were killed in rain-related incident in Swabi.

In Lalbeg village, two children had gone to bring fodder for animals when they got trapped under the haystack. Their parents rushed to the field when the two boys did not return home. They were found trapped under the collapsed haystack. The children were identified as Ibrahim Khan,12, and Waseem Khan,12. In the second incident in Hareef village, the roof of a house caved in.

As a result, the owner of the house Sawar Khan was killed. The locals pulled out the body from the debris. Three Afghan children were injured when their houses collapsed in Gandaf refugee camp in Swabi. Ten more injuries cases were reported that including six from Mardan, three from Khyber and one from Malakand.

An eight-year-old child Hasnain was killed when a roof caved in at Londkhwar area in Mardan district

His father was also injured in the incident. In Shergarh, a couple got injured due to a roof collapse. The woman was stated to be in a critical condition. Report from Hangu said one Aminullah and his eight-year-old daughter Aimen Bibi were killed due roof collapse at Sra Chapri village.

Two children were killed and eight others sustained injuries when a roof of the house collapsed in Bara tehsil in Khyber tribal district Saturday night.

The house of one Sher Badshah caved in at Sipah area in Bara tehsil due to heavy rain in the wee hours of Sunday as a result, two children identified as Salman and Maryam were killed on the spot while eight others sustained injuries.

Soon after the incident, the locals rushed and retrieved the bodies and rescued the injured.

The injured were shifted to the Dogra hospital. A 13-year-old girl was killed and two others were injured in a roof collapse incident in Utmanzai area in Mohmand tribal district.

Our correspondent adds from Mansehra: the rains and snowfall wreaked havoc in upper parts of Hazara division as the Karakoram Highway remained blocked at various points and over a dozen mud-houses collapsed. The rain which continued on the fifth consecutive day on Sunday adversely affected routine life in Mansehra, Torghar, Upper Kohistan, Lower Kohistan and Kolai-Palas districts.

The traffic between Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Gilgit-Baltistan remained suspended as Karakoram Highway was blocked at Karo and Gagan Nullah areas of Lower Kohistan in the wee hours on Sunday. The passengers were stranded on both sides of the road in long queues of vehicles.

Over a dozen houses caved in parts of Torghar district, but no casualty was reported, an official of district administration told reporters. Heavy snowfall blocked link roads and inconvenienced the locals. According to the Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA), as many as 11 houses were damaged which include one in Mardan, two in Bajaur, three in Shangla, two in Swat, one in Abbottabad and two in Torghar.

The rains damaged 87 houses in Mardan, Swabi, Peshawar, Charsadda, Nowshera, Khyber, Mohmand, Bajaur, Buner, Malakand, Shangla, Torghar, Swat, Upper Dir, Abbottabad, Battagram, Haripur, Kohat, Orakzai and North Waziristan. The PDMA provided relief items including tents, mats to the victims in Mardan, Charsadda, Swabi, Battagram and Shangla while relief activities in other districts were going on. The residents of KP including the provincial capital heaved a sigh of relief when it did not rain on Sunday and the weather remained partially cloudy. The Met office forecast dry weather in the country but partially cloudy in upper parts.