ISLAMABAD, May 25: A glacier burst caused a second flooding in four days in Upper Hunza on Sunday, damaging orchards and villagers’ property.

The flooding suspended traffic on the Karakoram Highway.

Last Thursday, the glacier’s snout had blocked the regular flow of a river in Gulkhin village, causing a flood that disrupted life and communication in Gojal tehsil, some 145 kilometres north of Gilgit and close to the border with China.

Traffic was resumed in the area on Friday after the Chinese engineers along with FWO personnel working on the KKH expansion project repaired the road.

But on Sunday, the water building up behind the blockage burst again, flooding new areas.

Experts said mudslides and flood had been caused by dramatic changes in the behaviour of the Sheirpaigh glacier near Gulkhin and Hussaini villages due to global climate changes.

Dozens of houses, cattle pens, potato and wheat crops and orchards have been affected by the flooding.

Telecommunication and road links between Gojal tehsil and Gilgit were severed.

Local boy scouts and volunteers built a makeshift wooden bridge to shift stranded passengers. But Sunday’s flooding again disrupted traffic on the KKH.

Local people claimed the glacial change has put some 5,000 people of villages of Ghulkin, Hussain and Borit at risk.

They accused the local administration of being indifferent to their plight and said that no high official had visited the area to provide relief to the affected people.

In February, a similar glacier burst had caused heavy damage in Passu village.

The Gojal tehsil is home to many glaciers which have witnessed dramatic changes in recent years.

The local people have urged the government to send experts to monitor changes in the movement of glaciers and dangers posed by them to the area.