MINGORA/MUZAFFARABAD, Aug 8: Rains and flash-floods claimed the lives of another 13 people in the NWFP as the death toll from two weeks of monsoon rains in the province rose to 157.
Elsewhere in the country, landslide, triggered by heavy rains, killed five members of a family in Azad Kashmir’s Chakothi sector while a woman died in roof collapse near Sibi in Balochistan and seven others went missing after being swept away by overflowing rivers.
Flash-flood swept away a Datsun pick-up carrying 13 people in Khwazakhela area of Swat district, officials said, adding that local people had retrieved 12 bodies and search for the 13th was in progress.
Coming from Shangla, the Mingora-bound pickup was trying to speed through the floodwater as two bridges in Khwazakhela had succumbed to rains and flash-floods a few days ago, cutting the road link between Shangla and Mingora, they said.
The 12 bodies were brought to Khwazakhela hospital where four of them were identified as of Wazirzada, Haroon Rashid, Abdul Qahar and Ayub Khan.
The officials said the floods also damaged houses, road network and farmlands in different parts of Swat district.
According to officials in Irrigation Department, Peshawar, except for river Sindh which is in high flood at Chashma, the water level in all rivers of the province is receding.
They said the Dalas stream near Peshawar overflowed on Tuesday morning, inundating several houses in the area. Since the residents had already vacated the area, no casualty was reported, they said.
Meanwhile in Chakothi sector of Azad Kashmir, a woman and her four children were killed late on Monday night when a landslide, triggered by heavy rains, crushed the temporary shelter the family had erected after last year’s earthquake.
Superintendent of Police Zahoor Gilani told Dawn on Tuesday that the rains which resumed on Monday night after a day’s break triggered the landslide in Balabandi village, some 60 kilometres south of Muzaffarabad.
“Around midnight, a huge mass of earth engulfed one shelter completely, giving no time to any of the five inmates to escape,” he said.
The victims were identified as Raheema Bibi, 40, wife of Sabz Ali and her children, Ahmed Ali, 14, Azmat Ali, 10, Ahmed Ali, 7 and Nagina, 3, he said, adding their bodies had been recovered.
The official said that five adjoining shelters were also damaged badly. AFP adds: Flash floods swamped several villages in Balochistan, said Shakeel Ahmed, a spokesman for the provincial government.
A woman died when the roof of her house collapsed near the desert town of Sibi and seven others were missing after they were swept away by overflowing rivers, Ahmed said.
Hundreds of people were being evacuated to safer places.