Fatalities as heavy rainfall sweeps across Pakistan
March 13, 2016
At least 17 people were killed in the province of Baluchistan, while more than 10 others lost their lives in northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province and nearby tribal areas, officials said Sunday. Authorities in other regions said they were still surveying the damage.
"At least 17 people have died due to roofs and walls collapsing or being struck by lightning," Zahid Saleem, chief of Baluchistan's disaster management authority, told AFP. Six children were among the dead. More than 50 people were injured.
The torrential rains started on Thursday in southwestern Baluchistan and by the weekend had spread to the rest of the country.
The downpours also caused the collapse of a coal mine in the Orakzai tribal region, killing at least five workers. Military rescuers managed to save 29 miners from the shaft, but several others remain missing.
Pakistan's Meteorological Department reported that scattered heavy rainfall was expected over the next 24 hours.
Every year since 2010, which saw the worst floods in Pakistan's history, severe weather in the country has killed hundreds and wiped out millions of acres of prime farmland, harming the heavily agrarian economy.
nm/ (AFP, AP, dpa)