QUETTA: At least nine people have died and many others are missing as a flash flood caused by heavy rains and thunderstorm swept away many mud houses in Lasbela district on Friday Traffic on the Quetta-Karachi highway remained suspended the whole day.

Heavy rains that started in various parts of Lasbela district on Wednesday evening continued till Friday causing the flash flood that wreaked havoc in the district as water entered many villages forcing people to vacate their houses.

According to sources, at least 14 people, including women and children, were swept way in Jangi village.

FC, Navy personnel called out

Personnel of the Frontier Corps and Pakistan Navy have been called out in the area to find the people who went missing after the flooding.

Official sources said nine bodies had been recovered from the floodwater. Women and children are among the dead. They said seven of the dead were identified as Abdul Hakim, Arbab Ali, Sabir Hussain, Rasheed Ahmed, Muhammad Asif, Muhammad Khalid and Abida Perveen.

Commissioner of Kalat division Hashim Khan Ghilzai told Dawn that a rescue operation had been launched with the help of the Frontier Corps in the rain-affected areas.

They said a car carrying four people had been swept away by the flash flood. The person who was driving the car had been rescued while the three others had been swept away. Bodies of the two had been recovered while the fourth one, a child, was still missing, they added.

The local administration launched a relief operation in the affected areas and shifted a large number of people to safe places.

“The local administration is providing tents, food, drinking water and other relief goods to affected people,” an official said.

Mr Ghilzai said that all possible efforts were under way to send relief goods to affected areas. Machineries were being sent to clear the highway affected by the flood water.

Reports reaching here from Loralai, Musakhel, Zhob and Dera Bugti areas said that heavy rains and thunderstorm had badly affected these areas. The Provincial Disaster Management Authority has issued high-alert warning about possible floods in these districts.

Meanwhile, Balochistan Chief Minister Nawab Sanaullah Zehri, who is visiting Khuzdar, has directed the PDMA officials and other related institutions to reach the affected area and take part in the rescue operation.

Published in Dawn, July 1st, 2017