Gilgit:
At least eight volunteers were killed and several others trapped when a landslide hit a water channel damaged by floods in Danyor Nullah de Gilgit during repair work, police said Monday.
The volunteers were working to restore the channel when a dough of land suddenly collapsed, burying them under debris, according to the police.
Hospital sources confirmed that all those killed were members of a local voluntary team, while three others suffered wounds.
As the search for more survivors continued, the authorities declared an emergency in local hospitals. A provincial government spokesman said that accelerated glacial fusion, driven by climate change, had increased water flow in several currents throughout the region.
President Asif Ali Zardari expressed a deep pain for the incident, offering sympathies and condolences to the families of deceased volunteers.
In a statement, he paid tribute to those who “sacrificed their lives for the good of humanity.”
“The whole nation is afflicted by the loss of precious lives in the tragedy,” he said and prayed for the rapid recovery of the injured.
The Shishper glacier recently flooded, damaging farmland and closing a section of the Karakoram road (KKH) to Hunza. Traffic has been diverted by Nagar Road, while officials warned of more rain and landslides.
A significant section of KKH in the Morkhun area of Alto Hunza has also been destroyed by the erosion of the river, cutting the land bond between Pakistan and China, confirmed the Gilgit-Baltistan government (GB).
“The erosion of the river remains a key taxpayer to road blockages in the region,” said an expert in the crispfera to Express PAkGazette. “Although KKH interruptions are not unusual, the current intensity of the river swelling and the damage scale is significantly higher.”
GB government spokesman Faizullah Faraq said that the increase in river flow led to the collapse of a KKH section, making it impassable. Prime Minister Haji Gulbar Khan has directed the immediate restoration of the route.
Previously, the authorities issued alerts for possible floods in local streams and nullahs in Dera Ghazi Khan, northeastern and superior Punjab, Islamabad/Rawalpindi, northeastern Baluchistan, Kashmir, Chitral, Swat, Shangla, Mansehra, Murree, Galiyat, Kohistan, Abbottttttbad, Buner, Buner, Buner, Buner Buner, Swabi, now, now.
They also warned about a high risk of landslides in the mountainous areas of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, Murree, Galiyat, Cashmira and GB, with the potential to interrupt road networks and communications.
