28 killed as floods hit van carrying wedding party in Pakistan

Peshawar, Jul 31: At least 28 people, including 18 children, were killed when a vehicle carrying a marriage party was swept away by flash floods in northwest Pakistan, officials said today.

The incident took place yesterday when the ill-fated vehicle was caught in flooding in Tabai area while travelling from Bara to Bazaar Zakha Khel in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. The dead include 18 children, eight women and two men.

The injured are all men, said Subedar Hikmat Khan Afridi, Line Officer Landi Kotal Khyber Agency. Rescue teams have retrieved the bodies and shifted them to a hospital in Landi Kotal, an official said.

Flash floods triggered by torrential rains have badly affected Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province in recent years. According to National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), about 55 people have been killed and 35 others injured due to heavy rains in different parts of the country.

Annual spring and monsoon rains claim many lives each year in Pakistan, especially in rural areas where poorly built homes are susceptible to collapse. Over 120 people were killed in rains and landslides killed in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Gilgit-Baltistan region in April.

Over 80 people were killed and almost 300,000 affected due to heavy rains last summer in Pakistan. Nearly 2,000 people were killed and millions others badly affected in the worst flooding in 2010 that covered almost a fifth of the country's total land mass.

PTI