BADIN, Aug 5: Nine more bodies were recovered in Badin on Tuesday as water continued to recede, bringing the death toll to 162 in Sindh.

Sindh government spokesman Salahuddin Haider told AFP that hundreds of dead cattle were also recovered from the Badin district.

He said relief operations were under way and donations from Japan, the US and United Nations agencies, including UNICEF, had begun pouring in.

Japan on Tuesday pledged 163,000 dollars worth of emergency aid in tents, water purification kits, generators and other supplies. The US had provided 50,000 dollars and two helicopters to assist rescue operations.

At least one million people in Sindh, which has been stricken by drought for the last eight years, have been affected by flooding, either left homeless, marooned, facing disease or snakebite.

Relief workers have expressed fears that the real death toll can be closer to 300, speculating that many bodies may still be discovered in areas still cut off, and that scores may have been washed into the sea. —AFP

Our Badin correspondent adds: After a break of two days, the Badin town and other parts of the district again received rain on Tuesday.

The rain, followed by strong winds, started at 2:15pm and continued for over 20 minutes. Thick and black clouds were hovering over the sky.

Meanwhile, some 55,000 stranded people in around 2,000 flooded villages in the distric have reportedly refused to leave their houses.

Talking to this correspondent, rain victims Abdullah and Sawan said villagers who had braved the devastating rains were not leaving their houses which were at the verge of collapse. They said since the water was receding the administration should supply ration and other relief goods to their villages.

On the other hand, many people left their inundated villages but instead of going to relief camps they went to other safer places.

Relief goods are being dispatched to rain-hit areas through union council Nazims but incidents of mismanagement and misappropriation have also been reported.

Mohammad Khan Bhurgari Union Council Nazim Abdul Sattar Soomro was manhandled and beaten up by the people while he was going to some villages to distribute relief goods.

The villagers said the Nazims were ignoring the deserving people and were distributing ration among their supporters.

ABSENTEE DOCTORS SUSPENDED: The director-general, Sindh health services, Dr Qadir Bux Memon, has suspended four medical officers who were found absent from their duties during emergency, declared in the district. Those suspended were Dr Aijaz Ahmad, Dr M. Arif Shaikh, Dr Mohammad Aqil Mandhro and Dr M. Anwar Mandhro.