Six die, 24 injured in rain-related incidents in KP

PESHAWAR: Six persons died and 24 others were injured in rain-related incidents in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on Saturday.

One person died and 16 people were wounded in wall and roof collapse incidents in the provincial capital.

Spokesman for the Rescue 1122 told reporters that one person had died and another injured when a wall collapsed in Matani. In separate incidents, six people were wounded in Marozai, five in Bhanamari and four in Phandu. The wounded were shifted to hospital.

Two girls were killed while their parents sustained serious injuries when the roof of a room in their mud-thatched house collapsed in Rabnawaz Banda in Shergarh area of Mardan district, local residents said.

They said that Naimatullah, a poor labourer and resident of Rabnawaz Banda, and his family members were asleep when the roof of their room caved in, burying the inmates under the debris. His daughters named Hafza Bibi, 4, and Sahira Bibi, 2, were killed and Naimatullah and his wife sustained serious injuries.

The residents said that three goats also perished in the incident.

They said that persistent torrential rains had weakened the structure of the mud-built house which collapsed all of a sudden.

Soon after the incident, the team of Rescue 1122 rushed to the spot and shifted the victims to hospital in Shergarh, who were later referred to the Tehsil Headquarters Hospital, Takhtbhai, because of precarious condition.

Two people were killed and four others were injured when the roof of a house collapsed due to continuous snowfall and rain in Zamchina area of Birmal Tehsil of Lower South Waziristan tribal district.

Similarly, another incident took place in Tehsil Building Wana, where two children were injured in a roof collapse incident.

According to the local people, the injured included Sifat, Ejaz, Hasina and Safarina. The wives of Mamir Jan and Nauman died in the incident. The local people took the injured people to the District Headquarters Hospital in Wana.

Assistant Commissioner, Wana, Yasir Salman Kundi, said the government would soon give compensation cheques to the bereaved families and injured.

The local people asked the government to provide financial assistance to the affected family on an emergency basis and make arrangements for free treatment of the injured.

The Wana-Gomal Zam Road was closed to traffic due to landslides.

Deputy Commissioner, Lower South Waziristan, Mohammad Nasir Khan, has ordered relevant officials to clear the road.

Also, a woman was killed and another sustained injuries in separate rain-related incidents in Bara Tehsil of Khyber district.

It was learnt that the house of Faqir Khan collapsed due to snowfall in Malikdinkhel area in Tirah Valley.

The wife of Faqir Khan died when she got trapped under the debris when the roof of her house collapsed. Her other family members remained safe.

Soon after the incident, the locals reached the place and pulled out the body from the debris.

In another incident, a room in the house of Mat Khan collapsed in the Nala area in Malikdinkhel due to heavy rain, leaving him critically injured.

The Rescue 1122 team reached the spot and retrieved him from the rubble. He was taken to a hospital.

Meanwhile, the house of Said Jamal collapsed in the Madakhel area in Akakhel but no loss of life was reported in the incident.

In Tank, the overnight heavy rains affected several areas besides damaging bridges and roads, cutting the link of a number of areas in the district. The areas affected by heavy downpour included Barakhel, Kot Alladad, Bypass and Abizar villages while several bridges and roads were also damaged by the floodwater.

Meanwhile, Deputy Commissioner Shoaib Khan along with Sector Commander Brigadier Sohail Bajwa visited the affected areas and expressed their resolve to reconstruct the destroyed bridges and roads to restore links between the cut-off areas in the district.

They also distributed relief goods among the affected. The DC said that all available resources were being utilized to help the affected people and restore road links between different areas.

The upper parts of Hazara Division also received light snowfall and rains, turning the weather cold. The hilly and high-altitude parts of the division also received snowfall.

The rain, which started in the early morning in low-lying parts of Mansehra, Torghar, Upper Kohistan, Lower Kohistan and Kolai-Palas, continued intermittently the entire day. The snowfall and rains turned the weather cold across the division and people once again started wearing warm outfits and shawls.