Rescue operations continue in flood-hit northwestern Pakistan as death toll jumps to 688
Around 1,000 injured since June 26, casualties feared to rise as 200 still missing, according to authorities
KARACHI, Pakistan
Rescuers backed by army troops and local volunteers on Monday continued to dig through the mounds of debris in several districts of northwestern Pakistan, where floods washed away entire villages, bridges, and other infrastructure, killing over 368 people over the past four days.
With the latest casualties caused by massive floods that hit across northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province on Friday, the overall death toll has jumped to 688 since the first monsoon spells struck the South Asian country on June 26.
Another 18 people were killed when new monsoon rains caused flooding, a disaster management authority said.
Addressing a news conference in the capital Islamabad on Monday, Lt. Gen. Inam Haider, the head of the country's National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), said around 1,000 people have been injured in rain- and flood-related accidents across the country since June 26.
Inam said authorities are working to clear roads and restore electricity in the flood-hit districts.
Torrential rains continued to pound Peshawar, the provincial capital, and adjoining Swabi and Noshehra districts as a fresh monsoon spell is lurking on the flood-ravaged districts of Buner, Swat, Shangla, and Mansehra.
Massive rains also claimed the lives of two young girls in the Harnai district of southwestern Balochistan province on Monday.
Authorities fear a rise in casualties, as Faraz Mughal, a spokesman for the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government, told reporters that at least 200 people are still missing.
A majority of the missing belonged to the hardest-hit Buner district, where 220 deaths have been confirmed since Friday.
"Things are more than scary here. Nothing has been left except for mounds of rubble and giant rocks dumped by floodwaters," Fazal Maabood, an official of Al-Khidmat Foundation, one of the country's largest relief and rescue agencies, told Anadolu from Buner.
He said rescuers and volunteers are trying to locate the missing people, who are believed to have been trapped under the rubble, as rain and the mountainous terrain are obstructing the rescue efforts.
Along with the NDMA and Al-Khidmat Foundation, several relief organizations have dispatched relief goods to the affected areas.
