QUETTA, July 4: Relief operation continued in cyclone- and flood-hit districts of Balochistan and army helicopters rescued 316 more people on Wednesday while a large number of people remained marooned in the Jaffarabad district.

The situation in Jaffarabad became serious after a vast area of the district was inundated following a breach in the Kirthar canal. Sources said floodwaters coming from Jhal Magsi had caused a 250-foot breach in the canal.

Rescue teams have so far failed to reach the flood victims of Mula and Karkh areas of Khuzdar district as link roads have been washed away. Helicopters could not land in the area, but they dropped relief goods on Wednesday.

Sources said that 100 people were still missing in Nal area, which was inundated in Friday’s flash floods.

“A total of 42 bodies have been recovered from the area so far,” official sources said, adding that the search for missing people was in progress.

Home Secretary Tariq Ayub, briefing newsmen about the relief operation, said traffic had been restored between Quetta and Karachi through the RCD Highway. He said ships were also being used for dispatching relief goods to the coastal areas and a ship arrived at Gwadar port on Wednesday carrying food, tents and other items.

He said that 53 cases of snake-bite had occurred in Nasirabad and Jaffarabad districts. Two of them died while others were given treatment, he added.

He said that 5,000 tents had been distributed while around 100,000 more were needed.

He said gas supply would be restored to Quetta and other four districts on Thursday as repair work was under way in Bolan area.

A senior official of the Sui Southern Gas Company, Mohammad Hashim, said that as water level in the Bolan river was receding, SSGC teams had started working round-the-clock for restoring gas supply.

Former prime minister Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali and Senate Deputy

Chairman Mir Jan Mohammad Jamali visited the flood-hit areas of Jaffarabad on Wednesday. Mr Jamali said thousands of people had been rendered homeless in his native district and they had taken shelter at the bank of the Kirthar canal.

“Homeless people are living under open skies and they need tents, medicines, and food,” Zafarullah Jamali told Dawn over telephone.