PESHAWAR/GILGIT – The death toll from the torrential rain and landsliding in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Gilgit Baltistan rose to 71 on Tuesday as 14 more people were killed.
According to officials of Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA), a mudslide hit several houses in KPK’s Kohistan district, burying more than 50 people. The rescuers and local people retrieved 14 bodies and 13 injured from the debris as search was underway for remaining 24 people, including women and children.
Due to heavy rains and landsliding in parts of Pakhtunkhwa and Gilgit over past couple of days, deaths occurred in Shangla, Kohistan, Swat, Bannu, Battagram, Chitral, Mardan, Upper Dir, Charsadda, Malakand and Mansehra. Officials said more than 140 houses have been destroyed due to heavy rains.
The torrential rain caused serious losses to orchards and other standing crops. Efforts were underway for rehabilitation of the rain-affected people. Reports say sliding also hit Neelam Valley of Azad Jammu Kashmir and Chilas at Gilgit-Baltistan region where the catastrophe damaged Karakorum Highway. Several tourists have been trapped in different remote areas.