March 22, 2007	Thursday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 2, 1428

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MUZAFFARABAD/DIR UPPER, March 21: Continuing heavy snowfall and rain triggered massive landslides, burying 32 people alive in two separate incidents in Azad Kashmir and the NWFP on Wednesday.

At least 27 people died in Doba Syeddan village here, about 65 kilometres south of Muzaffarabad in the Pando Sector, police officials said.

Muzaffarabad SSP Dr Liaquat Ali said that landslide had trapped 43 people but 16 of them had been rescued with varying degrees of injuries. The SSP said six bodies had been retrieved from beneath the debris.

The rains also triggered a landslide in Tariqabad locality in Muzaffarabad, threatening around 103 households that were evacuated on Wednesday. An official said the CMO would soon decide about arrangements for their temporary settlement.

In Dir Upper area, five members of the same family were buried alive and three more were injured under an avalanche in the Patrak union council on Wednesday, officials said. All of them had gone to collect firewood from a nearby forest in the Siyasan village.

Villagers later retrieved five of the bodies from under the snow. The injured men were taken to a hospital.