Two killed as boulder hits house in Orakzai

KALAYA: Two members of a family were killed and another sustained critical injuries when a boulder fell on a house in Kot Killay Alikhel in the limits of Ghiljo Police Station in Ismailzai tehsil of Upper Orakzai district on Tuesday.

Police said that a big boulder, which had detached from the nearby hill due to recent torrential rains, fell on the house of one Nawab Shah, a resident of Kot Killay Alikhel.

They said that the heavy boulder flattened the entire structure of the home, burying seven members of the family. Locals and personnel of the Orakzai Scouts, a wing of paramilitary Frontier Corps, rushed to the spot and started rescue activities.

The rescuers retrieved the bodies of 70-year -old Abdul Malik and his 21-year-old sister Sulemana Bibi and rescued a woman Habiba Bibi in seriously injured condition after hectic efforts for hours.

The dead and injured were shifted to the Tehsil Headquarters Hospital in Ghaljo from where the injured woman was referred to a hospital in Kohat because of her precarious condition.

Elders of the area have appealed to the government and local administration to provide financial assistance to the affected family so they could handle the tragic incident.