The death toll from a bridge collapse in Pakistan’s northern town of Mardan rose to at least 39 on Sunday as rescuers continued searching for dozens of people feared drowned in floods, reports and officials said.
”According to local people, more than 100 people were on the bridge when it caved in,” senior district administrator Himayatullah Mayar told reporters in the flooded town of North-Western Frontier province.
Army troops and local people have recovered 39 bodies, including those of children who were standing on main Par Hoti-Baghdada bridge over Kalpani stream when it collapsed.
The English-language daily The News also reported 25 deaths from across the country on Saturday, mainly from flash floods, roof collapses and electrocution.
Weeks of heavy monsoon rains have so far killed more than 220 people, most of them in the North-Western Frontier province, and its administered Kashmir where a 7,6-magnitude earthquake in October last year killed an estimated 75 000 people.
Most of the deaths in Kashmir occurred due to landslides. The United Nations had already shifted about 4 000 people from villages in the region exposed to mudslides following major cracks on mountains caused by the earthquake.
Many rivers and seasonal streams in northern Pakistan and Pakistani-administered Kashmir, which are tributaries of the mighty River Indus, are currently flooded.
More rains were forecast in northern and central Pakistan over the weekend. — Sapa-dpa