PESHAWAR, Kurrent News: Eleven persons were killed and several others injured while dozens of houses and buildings collapsed as heavy snowfall and rains wreaked havoc in upper parts of Frontier province.
The districts of Chitral, Lower and Upper Dir, Swat, and Shangla were disconnected from the rest of the country. The link-roads in these areas were covered with snow or damaged by avalanches and landslide.
The record snowfall also disrupted power and telephone connections in the areas.
The anti-polio campaign was postponed till further orders in Lower and Upper Dir, Bajaur, Swat and Shangla. The local administrations in the affected districts ordered closure of educational institutions for one week. Sources said that at least seven persons were killed when a snow avalanche hit them near the entrance of Lowari tunnel on Chitral side on Tuesday.
Chitral DCO Rahmatullah Wazir told Dawn that three of the victims were workers of the Korean construction company, Sambu. They were identified as Mumtaz Khan from Chitral, Farman Ali from Mardan and Shuaib from Punjab.
The remaining four were employees of a nearby hotel belonging to Upper Dir district. They were identified as Israrud Din, Mohammad Din, Hussain Ahmed and Inayatur Rahman.
The bodies of Sambu company workers were recovered while search was underway to locate the other victims.
Mr Wazir said that more avalanches were reportedly hitting the area intermittently, making the search work difficult and perilous. He said that more rescue teams would be sent to the place of incident to accelerate search work.
Some people present on the site of incidence feared the death toll might rise as more bodies could be found under the avalanche.
The tunnel remained closed for vehicular traffic on Tuesday for the third consecutive day cutting Chitral district from the rest of the country. The roof of a house collapsed in Rahimabad village of Lower Dir, killing four inmates, who were asleep in two separate rooms. They were identified as Hazrat Hakeem his wife, his brother Hazrat Abdur Rashid and his sister-in-law. The children asleep in the third room received minor wounds.
A Pesco official told Dawn that 52 HT lines poles and 70 LT lines poles were uprooted in Lower and Upper Dir, plunging both the districts into darkness. The official said restoration of power could take four to five days.
Several people were injured as a girls school, a dispensary, a factory and several houses collapsed due to heavy snowfall in different areas of Swat valley.
Residents said that in Osho and its surrounding areas a girls school, a dispensary and eight shops collapsed due to snowfall. Six persons were injured when snow hit five houses in Basar and Bew villages.
The Kalam-Mingora road was closed on the thirteenth consecutive day. The mercury has dropped to minus 12 degree Celsius in Kalam. Several houses collapsed in Mingora city and its surroundings.
The electricity, gas and telephone lines remained disconnected in Mingora and other areas of the district. “The repair work has been initiated but it may take time,” officials said. The attendance in government office also remained thin and businesses centres were closed.
The tented school in Nawi Kallay and Silk Mills building on Bamakhela road near Mingora also collapsed.
Heavy snowfall also paralysed life in Shangla district where power and telephone system was yet to be restored.
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