QUETTA: At least six people, including four members of a family, have been killed in Quetta and Dera Allahyar as roofs and walls of houses collapsed due to heavy snowfall and rain lashing parts of Balochistan for a couple of days.

Four members of a family were killed in the Nasirabad area of Nawan Killi, a locality on the outskirts of Quet­­ta, where a house collapsed due to continuous rain.

The family was sleeping when roof and walls of their double-storey mud house caved in, causing injuries to seven people, police said.

Other members of the family and neighbours removed debris and took the injured to Civil Hospital where doctors proclaimed a woman and three children dead. The three injured were admitted to the hospital.

Police identified decea­sed as Gul Bibi, Fatima Bibi, Fawad Khan and Saima Bibi.

Another incident of wall collapse took place in Dera Allahyar town of Jaffarabad district, our Nasirabad correspondent adds.

Four members of a family are among the dead

Three-year-old Nasrullah and seven-year-old Nasima were killed in the incident.

Nasirabad and Jaffarabad districts have been receiving heavy rains for the last four days.

Meanwhile, a large number of mud houses collapsed in Khaliqabad area of Kalat district, rendering their residents homeless. They were shifted to safer places by the local administration.

Some areas of the district remain cut off from the district headquarters as snow has not been removed from roads. Icy winds have lowered the mercury to minus 12 degrees Celsius in Khaliqabad, Kalat and Harboi.

According to the Pro­vin­cial Disaster Management Authority, relief goods — including tents, blankets and food items — have been dropped in the affected areas. Helicopters have been used for this purpose.

Published in Dawn, January 27th, 2017