QUETTA, June 30: The situation in the flood-hit areas of Balochistan worsened as 60 more people died across the province on Saturday. Flash floods washed away a dyke near Jhal Magsi, leaving thousands of people stranded.

Rail links between Quetta and other parts of the country was disrupted after landslides damaged a track near Kolpur, about 80 kilometres from the provincial capital.

The Quetta-Chaman rail link was also down after a portion of it was washed away by flash floods. More army troops and helicopters arrived in Turbat on a request to the centre by the provincial government.

Protests by people critical of the government’s response continued for the third straight day.

Chief Minister Jam Yousuf, Chief Secretary K.B. Rind and a number of provincial ministers flew to Turbat to supervise relief operations.

Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz is expected to visit the calamity-hit areas in Makran on Sunday.

Official sources said 19 helicopters had been deployed for rescue work.

According to officials, flash floods swept away 25 people in Khuzdar district.

“People were asleep when hill torrents hit their mud-brick houses,” residents of Nal township told Dawn over telephone. Around 100 people went missing.

“So far 19 bodies have been recovered in the Nal area,” provincial Home Secretary Tariq Ayub said.

He said that the death toll in the province was 41, including eight casualties in the Jhal Magsi area. Eighteen more deaths were reported from Turbat, but no bodies were found.

Khuzdar Nazim Naseer Ahmed Mosyani said 27 people had been killed in the district.

However, other sources put the death toll in Khuzdar district at 120 and said that a large number of people were still missing in cyclone and flood-hit areas.

Floodwaters entered Jhal Magsi town after an embankment was washed away.

“About 8,000 people have been marooned in Jhal Magsi township,” Nawab Zulfiqar Ali Magsi, a former chief minister of Balochistan, told reporters at a press conference.

The situation is also aggravating in Kharan, Washak, Nasirabad, Jaffarabad, Kalat, Khuzdar.

Officials said that another dam had been washed away in Khuzdar district, flooding the Quetta-Karachi highway. A woman was killed and three students of a seminary injured when the wall of their school collapsed after it was hit by the dam water.

The road and telecommunication link could not be restored with flood hit areas while Quetta was also cut off from Karachi through the RCD Highway as many bridges were washed away in flash floods.

A large portion of the RCD Highway was swept away near Bela, hampering the efforts of the National Highway Authority and the Frontier Works Organisation.

Hundreds of vehicles were stranded on both sides of the RCD Highway for the past five days.

Meanwhile, a spokesman of the Quetta Electric Supply Company Said that after destruction of its 132KV Makran power transmission line, power to a vast area in Makran, including Turbat, Panjgur, Pasni and Gwadar had been suspended. He said that the power utility had closed its power plant in Pasni after water entered the building.

“Its repair will take at least 25 days,” he said.

He said that Qesco was supplying electricity for eight hours to Turbat from Panjgur.

He said that power supply had also been affected to Nasirabad, Jhal Magsi and Harnai.

Meanwhile, Balochistan Chief Minster Jam Yousuf presided over a meeting in Turbat and reviewed the pace of the relief operation. He ordered the authorities concerned to complete the operation in the next 36 hours, enabling the government to initiate rehabilitation work.

Meanwhile, the gas supply to Quetta, Mastung, Kalat, Pishin and Ziarat districts could not be restored as the Bolan River, where the gas pipeline was washed away, was still flowing in high flood.

The price of gas cylinders soared in the wake of gas suspension in Quetta and people complained that gas cylinders, available at Rs30 a kilogramme before the gas supply suspension, were being sold at Rs120 a kilogramme.