Flood kills 40 in northwest Pakistan, 40 missing

Islamabad, July 23: Pakistani villagers retrieved 10 more bodies from debris today to take the death toll to 40 from a flash flood that swept through their home in the mountainous northwest last week, police said.

Forty people were still missing as authorities faced difficulties removing debris due to a lack of heavy machinery in the area.

The flood washed away more than a dozen houses on Friday in Ushari Dara in Dir district, 190 km northwest of Islamabad.

''We have 40 deaths while about 40 are still missing,'' police officer Faiz Mohammad at the Dir police control room told Reuters.

He said local authorities lacked heavy machinery.

''We can't even send them machinery because there is no road. The situation is quite serious,'' Mohammad said.

Floods in Pakistan have killed 350 people and displaced more than 200,000 this year, according to the National Disaster Management Authority.

Reuters>