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| Saturday, 12 February 2005 |
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50 dead, hundreds missing in Pakistan dam burst At least 50 people were killed and hundreds missing in Pakistan after a dam burst and swept whole villages into the sea, officials said yesterday, as the death toll from a week of record rains hit 112. A wall of melted snow and rainwater escaped from the ruptured Shadi Kor dam near the coastal town of Pasni in southwestern Baluchistan province late Thursday, washing away people, houses, cars and buses in its path. "It's a big disaster," provincial minister for coastal areas Sher Jan told AFP. "About half a dozen villages have been submerged after the dam burst its embankment." "We have reports that 50 people have died," he said. Asked how many people were missing, he replied, "Since it's a large area which has been inundated it could be in the hundreds." Residents in the disaster zone, which is about 600 kilometres from Quetta, also said many people were missing. Using helicopters and boats, Pakistan's army and navy had rescued 1,450 people in the worst-hit villages of Sindhi Puso, Turati, Kurki, Zar Khor and Sharnu Bazar, the minister said. Parts of Pasni itself were also hit. Around 8,000 people in the area were affected, losing their homes, crops and cattle in the torrent, the minister said. "We know many people have gone into the mountains," he said. Floodwater also wiped out 40 kilometres of the coastal highway as well as a number of bridges and some minor roads, hampering rescue efforts. Ten of the dead were on a passenger bus that was washed away by the deluge near Pasni, the minister said. Three survivors were found later, he told AFP. Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf and Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz expressed deep sorrow over the deaths and ordered the local authorities to help the affected areas, national television said. The 25-metre-high, 147-metre-long dam was built in 2003 at a cost of 45 million rupees (758,853 dollars) and used for irrigation. It was full when it burst, the minister said. Weather officials said the length of the rainy spell, which began on February 3, appeared to be a record for Pakistan and showed no sign of letting up. "This is the first time that the rain has continued over such a long period," Chaudhry Qamruz Zaman, director general of the Meteorological Department, told AFP. At least 62 other people were killed and more were unaccounted for across the rest of Pakistan after heavy rain and snow in the past week. About 30 soldiers from the army and paramilitary forces have been missing in northwestern Pakistan since Thursday. "They have lost contact with their base," security chief of the tribal region Brigadier Mahmood Shah told AFP. |
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