TIMERGARA, Sept 6: Twenty-nine were killed and three others injured when lightning followed by torrential rain struck two villages in Upper Dir on Friday night.
Many other people were missing in the two villages where six houses were destroyed, burying the inmates alive.
Flash-floods and massive landslides followed the downpour, washing away three houses and a large number of cattle-head and blocking roads in different parts of the district.
Relief activities were launched on Saturday, and villagers and government workers were searching through the rubble to take out bodies and the wounded.
One of the worst hit villages was Shalgah, some 35km from Wari subdivision of the Upper Dir district, where sixteen people of the same family were killed and three others injured.
The dead were identified as Akhtar Zamin, his wife Bakhtroza, daughters Niaz, Sunbal and Naurin, son Irshad, brother Muslimzada and sister Noor Jehan; Farman, Yasmin, wife of Zahoor; Zarawar, Raz Mohammad, Sultan Zarin, Khayal Zarin, Fazal Mahmood and Saddar Khan.
The injured were Taj Wali, Laiqmina, wife of Saddar Khan, and Shehzor, wife of Gul Mohammad.
The other village was Asheeri Barkand where 13 people of the same family were struck by lightning. The dead were identified as Shah Dad Khan, his wife Bakht Jamala, daughters Shakila, Sabra, Tahira and Islam Bibi, sons Asghar and Shah Nawab, daughters-in-law Gul Shaheen and Farhat, grandson Naseebullah, cousin Sajjad Ali, and Gul Said, son of Amir Nawab.
The only surviving members of the family were Shah Dad Khan’s three sons who were not home on the fateful night.
Upper Dir district Nazim Sahibzada Tariqullah and residents of nearby areas rushed to the affected villages and initiated rescue work.
The provincial flood relief commission sent relief goods, including 100 tents, to the affected areas, official sources in Peshawar said.
The government directed the DCO to assess the damage to life and property in the affected areas. Officials said they were facing delays in continuing rescue work because of the difficult terrain, sources said.