ISLAMABAD (AP) — Heavy rains that caused flash floods and collapsed houses in different parts of Pakistan have killed 53 people over the past three days, an official said Monday.
Civil and military authorities have launched rescue and relief efforts to deal with the crisis, said Brig. Kamran Zia, a senior member of the National Disaster Management Authority. He said the deaths from the flooding span the entire country.
Twelve people were killed in the semiautonomous tribal region in the northwest, eight in neighboring Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, and three in the Pakistan-held part of the disputed Kashmir region. Twelve people also died in central Punjab province, 10 in southwestern Baluchistan, and eight in southern Sindh.
Flooding was especially bad in Pakistan’s largest city, Karachi, because of the southern city’s faulty drainage system, Zia said.
The same storm system hit Afghanistan, killing at least 58 people.
Pakistan regularly suffers from flooding during the monsoon season, which usually runs through July and August. The country suffered the worst floods in its 66-year history in 2010, when floodwaters inundated one-fifth of the country, killing over 1,700 people. More than 20 million people were affected at the time.
Also Monday, a bomb exploded on a passenger train in central Punjab province, wounding 14 people, three of them seriously, said provincial law minister Rana Sanaullah. The bomb was hidden in a washroom on the train, which was headed to Karachi, said Sanaullah.
Meanwhile, security forces were on high alert in Pakistan’s capital, Islamabad, because of intelligence indicating militants may stage attacks in the city, said Interior Ministry spokesman Omar Hamid Khan.
