Flash floods kill 16 in Pakistan

© AFP
Nuclear-armed but economically underdeveloped Pakistan regularly battles natural calamities such as floods.

    

Flash floods caused by torrential rains in southwest Pakistan killed at least 16 people including 14 women, officials said yesterday.

The floodwaters swept away many people in two remote villages of Khuzdar district in Baluchistan, around 370 kilometres (230 miles) south of the provincial capital Quetta.

"The torrential rains in the hilly areas created flash floods which swept away some gypsy people sleeping in makeshift tents in the dried water channel," Akbar Harifal, a senior administration official in the region, told AFP.

"Some people saved themselves but could not rescue their family members because the floodwaters came suddenly," he said.

Nuclear-armed but economically underdeveloped Pakistan regularly battles natural calamities such as floods.

Every year since 2010, which saw the worst floods in Pakistan's history, the country has experienced catastrophic inundations that kill hundreds and wipe out millions of acres of prime farmland, harming the heavily agrarian economy.

Around 26 people were killed and more than 180 injured after a storm struck the northwest city of Peshawar in April causing dozens of buildings to collapse.