GILGIT, Jan 4: Number of children who died due severe cold and pneumonia in the Northern Areas rose to 42 as another six children expired in Gultari sector of Baltistan. Assistant Commissioner Skardu Muhammad Ali Yuguvee told reporters on Wednesday that medicines and doctors were sent to the affected areas by army choppers as and when weather allowed sorties.

Mr Yuguvee said inclement weather had hampered rescue operations in the mountainous areas where temperature had dropped to -30 Celsius and surface link to these areas had vanished under snow.

He said hospitals in Skardu received a big number of pneumonia patients and emergency steps were being taken to cope with the situation despite shortage of doctors and medicine.

The residents of Skardu said that more than 35 children had died after December 25 in Gultari sector of Skardu district and not in Azad Kashmir as reported in a section of press.

Meanwhile, former deputy chief executive of Northern Areas Haji Fida Muhammad Nashad has appealed to the force commander of Northern Areas to initiate rescue operations in the affected valleys and depute army doctors for treatment of patients. He said the whole Baltistan region is in the grip of cold weather due to which pneumonia cases were on increase.