PESHAWAR, June 16: At least 14 people, including eight children, were killed and scores of others wounded when a flash flood in the Bidera channel, triggered by torrential rains in upper parts of Swat valley, washed away dozens of houses in the Bidera village, an official source told Dawn in Peshawar on Saturday.

Head of the Hydrology Division Abdul Wali Yousafzai said that heavy rains caused a flash flood in the Bidera Khwar course, which hit a cluster of houses in the area, some 230km from here.

He said eight children were buried alive when houses of Muhammad Sher and Humayun Khan were flattened by the force of the water current. Later, a policeman in the Mingora police control room told this correspondent by telephone that the number of dead from the flood had risen to 14 while nine wounded people had been admitted to district headquarters hospital.

He said the flood had destroyed at least 40 houses in the area.

Official sources said that rescue workers and local people had been searching for bodies.