KHAR: Seven girls and a boy were killed in a mudslide in Bajaur Agency on Friday. The children were collecting mud for their homes when the incident took place.

Quoting an eyewitness account, local administration officials claimed a group of eight girls and a boy were busy digging a mound of mud when it caved in.

In tribal villages, residents often attempt to fortify their mud and brick houses with an additional layer of mud ahead of the rain or snow season. Such activity sometimes causes tragedies.

According to residents as well as officials of the political administration, the incident took place at 11am in the Gardai village of Utmankhel tehsil, nearly 14km east of the agency’s headquarters of Khar.

Residents rushed to the site in order to rescue the children. They were, however, not able to save anyone as the mud mound was very deep.

Villagers complain that senior officials did not visit the families hit by the tragedy

About an hour later, the Levies Force personnel and officials of the political administration reached the site with an excavator and other machinery to assist in the rescue operation.

More than two hours later, seven bodies were recovered while two injured children were saved from the mound. The injured children were rushed to the agency headquarters hospital.

Speaking to the media, AMS Dr Naseeb Gul said that one of the wounded girls succumbed to her injures at the hospital.

He said the deceased were identified as Abdullah, Saira, Uzma, Saima, Sana, Fatima, Zeenat and Afsana while the injured girl was called Kainat. He added that they were between the ages of 10 and 14. According to the residents, they belonged to different families from the Ghandow and Gardai villages.

The deceased were laid to rest in the ancestral graveyards of their native villages. A large number of people and political administration officials attended the funeral prayers. A senior official of the Bajaur political administration told Dawn on Friday evening that they had initiated investigations into the tragic incident. “The incident has shocked all of us. We want to know what happened and have decided to conduct a proper investigation into the matter,” he said.

On the other hand, residents claimed that none of the senior officials had visited the area to offer condolences to the affected families. They also urged the political administration and federal government to announce an adequate compensation package for the families concerned.

Published in Dawn, November 4th, 2017