PESH AWAR: With torrential rains triggering flash floods in various parts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, eight people were killed in separate incidents on Monday.
The deaths were reported in Mansehra, Lower Chitral, Lower Dir and Swabi.
In Mansehra, flash floods caused by a cloudburst on Monday wreaked havoc in the Buzballa Narak village in Siren Valley, sweeping away three schoolgirls. Bodies of two girls were recovered afterward.
‘People present nearby rescued one girl, while the bodies of the other two were recovered from the flooded stream in the Jabori area,’ SHO of the Shinkiari police station Tariq Khan told reporters.He said the girls included seven-yearold Sania Bibi, 12-year-old Aiman Bibi and seven-year-old Faiza Bibi, who were taken away by raging flood waters as they crossed a stream in Siren Valley on their return from school.
Residents rescued Faiza Bibi and shifted her to a nearby health centre, where she was admitted.
SHO Tariq, who rushed to the area along with police constables, said the stream, which mostly remained dry, had swollen due to cloudburst and monsoon rains, which also inundated the nearby areas.
In another rain-related incident that occurred in the Kholian area of Balakot tehsil, the landslide detached from a roadside mountain and rolled down onto a car bound for Qalandarabad area inAbbottabad, leaving travellers Mohammad Rameez and two women critically injured. The injured were rushed to thetehsilheadquartershospitalinBalakot but doctors pronounced Rameez dead.
Rescue 1122 had repeatedly announced on loudspeakers that due to monsoon rains, water levels in the Siren River and streams in the area can suddenly rise dangerously, sweeping away whatever comes in their way.
Meanwhile, the district administrations in upper parts of Hazara Division have ordered families settled along streams and rivers to move to safety during the ongoing monsoon season.
According to Rescue 1122, two people lost lives in Lower Chitral district.
Spokesman for Rescue 1122 BilalAhmad Faizi told Dawn that one body was recovered from Broz Nullah in Drosh, while another person went missing after a flash flood.
Similarly, Jughoor Gol, which had witnessed heavy flooding a day ago, was flooded again on Monday.
According to Rescue 1122, a boy was washed away in a flash flood in Samar Bagh area of Lower Dir district.
In Swabi, teenager Mohammad Ali was killed by flooding in Topi Badri nullah.
Spokesman for Rescue 1122 Lugman Khan said that workers were struggling to find the body due to heavy waterflow.
He said the medical and diving teams of Rescue 1122 rushed to the area soon after learning about the incident and began the search.