CHITRAL, March 20: Five members of a family perished when an avalanche from a nearby hillock fell on their house in Wakht village of Garam Chashma valley here on Tuesday, while two persons were killed in a similar incident in Swat valley.

Chitral police told Dawn that the house of one Sardar Khan collapsed under the massive avalanche, killing his five family members. Those who died were identified as Sardar Khan’s wife Rashida Bibi, his sister Shahida Bibi and three daughters, including Sajida Bibi, 15, Zareena Bibi, 9, and Nagina Bibi, 3.

Sources said that the villagers strived hard to recover the bodies from the debris. They said that about a dozen of cattle had also perished in the incident. The houses surrounding the affected house remained safe, but people have shifted to safer places in view of danger of more avalanches, they said.

The sources said that Chitral-Garam Chashma road had been closed to traffic at three different places due to heavy rains for the last four days.

Meanwhile, the suspension bridge near Mastuj in upper Chitral fell into the river, disconnecting the Laspur union council from the district. The roads of other valleys, including Torkhow, Mulkhow, Laspur, Yarkhun, Oveer, Arkari and Karimabad, also remained closed to traffic.

In Mingora, two persons were killed when a boulder fell on them in the snowy mountain of Madian in Swat valley.

Locals said that Younas and Aleem of Dabbargai, Madian, went to a nearby mountain for brining firewood on Monday, where a sliding boulder hit then to death.

They said that when the two did not return in the evening the family members and relatives started search for them at the mountain. However, they found the bodies buried under the boulder on Tuesday.