SHANGLA: The recent cloudburst-induced floods have severely devastated Khwar Banda village, while the Makhozi sub-tehsil has been disconnected from rest of the district for the last three days.

Khwar Banda is located in the Shangla’s Puran tehsil, where 20 people have lost their lives, mostly from the same families, whereas five people are still missing after raging floods swept them away on Friday morning.

According to the district administration, 36 people reportedly lost their lives in the flash floods, 34 in Puran and two in Alpuri and Chakesar tehsils.

The administration said in its daily report that five people are still missing, and the body of a child was recovered on Sunday by the Rescue 1122 in Khwar Banda.

Rescue official says search continues for five missing

Rasool Khan Sharif, spokesperson for Rescue 1122, told Dawn that they found three persons alive at the bank of the river in Khwar Banda, who were injured and stuck in boulders. He said they were then moved to the Tehsil Headquarters Hospital, Puran.

Mr Sharif said search operation in Khwar Banda and Shati Dara areas was underway for the five missing persons.

Ali Akbar, a resident of Chawga, said that 11 people died from his village and 21 were injured.

He said they took the injured on their shoulders to the Puran hospital as the main Puran-Makhozi bridge was also washed away in the flash floods.

He said that they got to know about the human losses when people from a village upstream came down in search of people swept away by floods.

Mr Akbar said the flood-hit people were in dire need of food, clean drinking water, as most of the village springs had been contaminated after the floods.

Sartaj Khan, a resident of Khwar Banda, which is the worst hit, said that 20 people of his small village died and 32 got injured and five were still missing.

He said people from the surrounding village brought food and drinking water, and accommodated the shelterless families.

Abdul Maula Khan, Puran tehsil chairman, said the Friday floods had devastated the region, disconnecting it from rest of the district.

He said Alpuri-Puran Road was damaged at multiple locations in Yakhtangay and beyond. “Similarly, the Makhozi and Martung roads and all the link roads are also damaged.”

He said Khwar Banda, Chawga, Machkandai, Shati Dara and Aloch were the hardest hit villages.

Abdul Maula said the floods also swept away agricultural equipment like tractors, threshers of farmers, and vehicles.

He said the administration was currently assessing the damage amid the ongoing rescue operation.

Published in Dawn, August 18th, 2025