KARACHI: Eight die as rain continues to lash city: Toll rises to 11
By Bhagwandas
KARACHI, Sept 11: Eight people died and many others were wounded as rain continued to lash the city for the second day raising the death toll in rain-related incidents over the last 48 hours to 11. Intermittent showers continued all the day in different parts of the city following heavy downpour around noon on Sunday.
Most people did not go to work because of weekly holiday and vehicular traffic, including public transport, remained thin as compared to their usual movement on Sunday.
According to the Met Office, the maximum rains were reported in Ghulshan-i-Iqbal where 56mm rains were recorded till 2pm. Karachi airport had received 30mm, North Karachi 24mm, PAF Base Faisal 11mm, Baldia Town 7mm, and PAF Masroor 2mm till 5pm. The minimum temperature on Sunday was recorded at 25.6 degree Centigrade while the maximum temperature was 35.5 degree Centigrade. Humidity was recorded at 90 per cent.
Water level in the Malir and Lyari rivers went up as heavy rains pounded their catchment areas.
Chief Fire Officer Kazim Ali told Dawn that Brohi Goth, in Federal B Area’s block 18, was flooded and its residents, numbering 2,000-2,500, were being shifted to a relief camp set up in the Capt Sarwar Shaheed School in Federal B Area.
The temperature in city on Monday will remain between 32 and 34 degree Centigrade while thunderstorm and more rains are also expected, according to the Met Office.
Reports gathered from different parts of the city said that a speeding truck skidded off the road due to slippery conditions and hit an electric pylon near the Police Training College, Razaqabad, on the National Highway. The driver, Liaquat Ali Khan, 40, was electrocuted as a result. His body was shifted to the JPMC by an Edhi ambulance.
In New Karachi Industrial Area, a young man was electrocuted when he came in contact with live wires while walking through accumulated rain water and passing by an electric pole on the way. The victim was a worker of an industrial unit in the area.
A 24-year-old man, Mohammad Shafiq, was electrocuted while passing through a street in Al-Falah Society, Malir, where power cables had fallen off a pole. His body was sent to the JPMC for legal formalities.
Two young men, one in Korangi and the other near Pirabad police station in Site Town, were also electrocuted during the day.
An 18-year-old girl was fatally injured when a wall collapsed in Gulistan-i-Jauhar. She was taken to a private hospital in an Edhi ambulance but, later, shifted to the JPMC where she succumbed to her injuries. A young man drowned in the swollen Lyari river. Efforts were under way till Saturday evening to fish out his body.
A man, Khadim Hussain, was electrocuted when his touched the iron gate of a hospital. He was in the hospital on Rafique Shaheed Road and had gone out to get some medicines for his 10-year-old daughter, who was admitted there.
On return, he was electrocuted as he touched the hospital’s iron gate which had come in contact with live wires due to wetness.
Two children were injured when a portion of the roof of their house collapsed in Hijrat Colony, in the limits of Artillery Maidan police station.
A chemical factory is SITE caught fire due to rains on Sunday. Fire had broken out in the same factory during rains on Saturday. The factory handles some chemicals which catch fire when water is mixed, according to the city fire chief. Over 250 people suffered suffocation but there were no casualties in the fire.
KARACHI, Sept 11: Eight people died and many others were wounded as rain continued to lash the city for the second day raising the death toll in rain-related incidents over the last 48 hours to 11. Intermittent showers continued all the day in different parts of the city following heavy downpour around noon on Sunday.
