Rescue operation in progress in flood-hit Chitral

Rescue operation in Chitral’s Ursoon village is underway as more than 500 tents have been distributed among the victims, reported on Tuesday.

Relief operation is in full swing in the rain and flood-affected areas of Drosh in district Chitral.

Bodies of nine victims who were recovered from Afghanistan after being swept away in Chitral flooding Sunday have been handed over to Pakistani officials over Rs 20,000 to 30,000 per cadaver whereas other 17 corpses have also been found.

Meanwhile, Provincial Minister Mahmood Khan Achakzai visited Ursoon village and distributed Rs 3 lac to the victims.

GOC Malakand Major General Ghafoor also met the sufferers and gave them ration from Pakistan Army.

The heavy monsoon rains began late Saturday and were concentrated mainly in the northwestern province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, which has been badly affected by flooding in recent years that some scientists have linked to climate change.

The worst hit district was Chitral where the flood waters killed more than 40 people in the village of Ursoon near the Afghan border, which is home to some 100 families.

Eighty-two homes in the village were affected by the waters, a rescue services statement said, with some of them swept away, along with a mosque and an army post.

“Sixteen of the dead were offering prayers in the mosque when it was swept away by the flood,” said Latifur Rehman, a spokesman for the provincial disaster management authority.

At least eight of the victims were soldiers, and another eight bodies were swept over the border into Afghanistan, senior local official Osama Waraich said.