Pakistan floods leave 220 dead as rescuers pull 63 more bodies from landslides

Rescuers in north-west Pakistan have pulled 63 more bodies from homes flattened by flash floods and landslides, raising the death toll from rain-related incidents to at least 220, officials said.

One witness who escaped the deluges in Buner described seeing floodwaters carrying hundreds of boulders and “tons of rocks” crashing down.

Pakistan has had above-normal rain which experts link to climate change, leading to floods and mudslides that have killed about 541 people since June 26, according to the National Disaster Management Authority.

Hundreds of rescue workers are still searching for survivors in Buner, one of several districts hit in the province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, where torrential rain and cloudbursts triggered massive flooding on Friday, said Mohammad Suhail, a spokesman for the emergency services. Dozens of homes were swept away.

First responders have been trying to recover bodies in the worst-hit villages of Pir Baba and Malik Pura, where most people died on Friday, according to Kashif Qayyum, a deputy commissioner in Buner.

A local police officer, Imtiaz Khan, who narrowly escaped the deluges, said floodwaters carrying hundreds of boulders flattened dozens of homes within minutes in Buner.

“A stream near the Pir Baba village in Buner swelled without warning. At first, we thought it was a normal flash flood, but when tons of rocks came crashing down with the water, 60 to 70 houses were swept away in moments,” he told the Associated Press, adding that many bodies were left mutilated.

“Our police station was washed away too, and if we hadn’t climbed to higher ground, we would not have survived,” he said.

Rescuers said that as water started to recede, they saw large swathes of the village destroyed, wrecked homes and giant rocks filling the streets.

“It was not just the floodwater, it was a flood of boulders as well, which we saw the first time in our lives,” said Sultan Syed, 45, who suffered a broken arm.

Mohammad Khan, 53, said the floods “came so fast that many could not leave their homes”, he said.

Most of the victims died before reaching hospital, said Mohammad Tariq, a doctor at a government hospital in Buner. “Many among the dead were children and men, while women were away in the hills collecting firewood and grazing cattle,” he said.

Mourners attended mass funerals on Saturday as authorities supplied tents and food to people in Buner.

Pakistani leaders, including the prime minister and president, offered their condolences to the families of the dead and said they were praying for the speedy recovery of the injured.

The chief minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Ali Amin Gandapur, said efforts were under way to repair roads and other damaged infrastructure.

According to the provincial disaster management authority, at least 351 people have died in rain-related incidents this week across Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and the northern region of Gilgit-Baltistan.

Pakistan’s Meteorological Department predicted torrential rains in the coming days and warned that monsoon activity was likely to intensify from Sunday onwards, including in the north and northwest.

Meanwhile, in Indian-controlled Kashmir, rescuers scoured the remote village of Chositi in the district of Kishtwar on Saturday, looking for dozens of missing people after it was hit by flash floods two days ago, killing 60 and injuring 150.

Thursday’s floods struck during an annual Hindu pilgrimage in the area. Authorities have rescued more than 300 people while 4,000 pilgrims have been taken to safety.

Such cloudbursts are increasingly common in India’s Himalayan regions and Pakistan’s northern areas, and experts have said climate change is a contributing factor.

Pakistani officials said rescuers have evacuated more than 3,500 tourists trapped in flood-hit areas across the country since Thursday.

Many tourists have ignored government warnings that urged people to avoid flood-hit regions in the northern and north-western regions, fearing more landslides and flash floods.