Rain-related incidents in KP claim four more lives

CHITRAL/KHAR: Four persons were killed in rain-related incidents in Chitral and Bajaur on Sunday as floods continue to hit hilly areas in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

A man and his son was killed when a boulder fell on a house in Akroi area of Arandu in Lower Chitral.

The sources said that Ghulam Nabi and his son Hazrat Nabi were sleeping when the heavy boulder rolled down from the hill due to heavy rain and hit the house. The other members of the family miraculously remained safe in the incident. The area people have appealed to the government to extend financial help to the affected family. Two children were killed when the roof of a room of a house collapsed in Bara Kamangara area of Bajaur district due to torrential rain.

Local residents said that the room of the house of one Saifur Rahman caved in, burying his two children under the debris alive. The residents later retrieved the bodies of Yaman, 8, Yusra, 6, from the rubble after hectic efforts. The continuous heavy rains had weakened the mud-thatched house, which collapsed all of a sudden.

Also the rains battered various areas of the district, causing incidents of roof collapse, killing the cattle and destroying standing crops in Khar and Mamond tehsils. Three cows and several goats died when wall of a house fell on them in

Khar tehsil.

Meanwhile, various link roads in Upper Chitral have been washed away as a result of rains and floods during the last several days. In Brep village of Upper Chitral, around 100 houses and a filling station have been washed away by flood. A hydel power station was destroyed in Meragram while a jeepable bridge connecting Avi and Meragram villages was also washed away.

The Booni-Mastuj Road was also blocked as a result of flood, which also affected drinking water supply channels. A 2mw hydel power station was damaged in Golen Gol, suspending power supply in the area. Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) women wing district president Shabnam Nasir demanded the federal and provincial governments to help the people who

have been rendered homeless by flood in Brep and Khuzh villages.