Enlarge imageBy Shahid Gul Yusufzai
QUETTA, Pakistan (Reuters) - Pakistan has launched a huge relief operation for around 20,000 people stricken by the heaviest rains in 16 years as the death toll from a burst dam reached 70, provincial officials say.
Authorities rushed in thousands of troops to help with rescue operations in the remote southwestern province of Baluchistan.
Villages near the coastal town of Pasni bore the brunt of the destruction caused when the Shadikor dam burst, sweeping away many people and houses.
Provincial minister Sher Jan Baluch said the death toll from the disaster had risen to 70 after 10 people died of their injuries. Some reports said hundreds were still missing, but officials said there were no reliable estimates.
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Pasni lies about 800 km (500 miles) south of the provincial capital, Quetta. More than 40 people have been killed in other rain-affected parts of the province.
Officials said at least five villages, home to around 7,000 people, had been submerged by the waters pouring from the breach in the dam, a 35-metre (115-ft) high embankment 300 metres long constructed just two years ago.
"Relief work is in full swing but it will take some time to assess the exact extent of the damage," Baluch said. Officials say 6,000 army, paramilitary and navy troops had been mobilised.
One military official in Quetta said two army transport planes were flying in later on Saturday carrying food, blankets, tents and other emergency supplies.
He said at least 70 trucks carrying relief assistance had also been dispatched to the affected areas.
Three bridges along the main coastal highway had been washed away, and helicopters were flying over flooded areas to help rescue efforts.
Elsewhere in Pakistan, newspaper reports said 97 people had been killed and many were missing after torrential rains and heavy snowfall in the North West Frontier Province, bordering Afghanistan.
Most of the deaths were due to avalanches, flash floods or roof collapses. There was no word on the fate of at least 30 soldiers caught in an avalanche in the province’s remote Teerah valley on Thursday.
The Northern Areas, where the Himalaya, Karakoram and Hindu Kush mountain ranges meet, have been cut off, with roads buried under several feet of snow and the Chitral valley particularly badly affected.
The Karakoram Highway, linking Pakistan and China, has been blocked and flights in and out of the region have been suspended since February 3.
