PESHAWAR: Eleven people, including five members of a family, were killed in roof collapse and lightning incidents amid rainfall and windstorms in Charsadda, Mardan and Upper Dir districts early on Saturday.

According to Rescue 1122, five members of a family lost lives in a roof collapse incident in Tarangzai area of Charsadda district, while five baggers were killed by a lightning strike in Rustam-Buner Road area of Mardan district.

A lightning strike also claimed a life in Gandigar area of Upper Dir district.

The Rescue 1122 officials said five members of a family, including three children, were killed in Khat Koroona area of Tarangzai locality after their house’s roof cave in at midnight during rain coupled with a windstorm.

Rain, windstorms hit Charsadda, Mardan, Upper Dir

They said the incident happened after the collapse of the outer wall of the government girls high school.

Rescue workers recovered the bodies before they were buried in a local graveyard.

Local elders and political workers met the deputy commissioner and other officials in Jamia Mehmoodia area and complained that their repeated complaints to authorities about the dilapidated condition of the school building fell on deaf ears.

They said that a clogged drain often caused rainwater to flood the school, threatening the lives of students.

They warned that if the drain wasn’t cleared by Wednesday, they would lock the school.

Meanwhile, five people were killed when a lightning strike hit their house on a mountainous area along the Rustam-Buner Road near Surkhabi Bagh-i-Jibran village.

The incident was reported at 1:30am on Saturday.

The Rescue 1122 officials said their control room received a complaint over the phone at midnight that a lightning strike had set a house on fire.

They claimed that a large number of Rescue 1122 personnel along with a fire engine and medical teams rushed to the area to put out fire and rescue people.

The fire engine failed to reach the house due to the narrow path to the area, prompting the rescue workers to use the traditional way of extinguishing the fire with the help of water. They also shifted the injured to a hospital in Rustam tehsil.

The police officials and residents identified the deceased as beggars with their house called Malang Khana.

Two of them were the residents of Peshawar district, two of Charsadda district and one of Mardan district.

The residents identified them as Imdad Bacha, Naeem Shah, Hayat Malang, Ikram Baba and Ali Baba alias Kabali Baba.

The police handed over the bodies to the respective families after the completion of medico-legal formalities.

Also, a man was killed by a lightning strike in the Gandigar area of Upper Dir district late on Friday. He was identified as Jan Zada.

The Pakistan Meteorological Department said in the last 24 hours, 27mm of rain fell in Takht Bhai, 11mm in Saidu Sharif, 9mm in Kalam, 8mm in Malam Jabba and Kakul, 7mm in Mir Khani, 6mm in Balakot and Dir, 4mm in Cherat, 2mm in Pattan, and 1mm at Peshawar’s Bacha Khan Airport.

It also forecast rain and windstorm at isolated places in Chitral, Dir, Swat, Kohistan, Mansehra, Abbottabad, Balakot, Buner, Swabi, Charsadda, Nowshera, Mardan, Malakand, Mohmand, Khyber, Bajaur, Peshawar, Kohat, Bannu, Lakki Marwat, Tank, Dera Ismail Khan, Kurram and Waziristan districts.

Published in Dawn, September 15th, 2024