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| Sunday, 13 February 2005 |
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Floods, avalanches kill at least 260 in Pakistan QUETTA, Pakistan, Feb 12 (Reuters) Pakistan launched a huge relief operation for some 20,000 people affected by torrential rains in the southwest, as floods and avalanches pushed the death toll over 260 nationwide, officials said on Saturday. Authorities rushed in thousands of troops to help rescue efforts in the remote province of Baluchistan. Local government spokesman Razak Bugti said 500 people were missing after a dam burst following the country's worst deluge in 16 years. Villages near the coastal town of Pasni bore the brunt of the destruction when waters breached the Shadikor dam, sweeping away people and houses. Provincial minister Sher Jan Baluch said the death toll from the disaster had risen to 71. Pasni lies about 800 km (500 miles) south of the provincial capital, Quetta. More than 40 people have been killed in other rain-affected parts of the province. President Pervez Musharraf said he was going to visit the area to personally take charge. ``I will oversee relief operations. A C-130 plane is standing before me," Musharraf told Geo Television. Officials said at least five villages, home to around 7,000 people, had been submerged by waters pouring from the ruptured dam, a 35-metre (115-feet) high embankment 300 metres (985 feet) long constructed just two years ago. Four thousand people living near the Akra Caur Dam supplying water to nearby Gawadar port had also been evacuated as water levels passed danger limits, officials said. ``People have taken shelter on nearby high ground and helicopters are lifting them from there," said Bashir Baluch, a resident of Gawadar, describing the situation in Suntsar, a small town between Pasni and Gawadar. |
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