KARACHI, 13 February 2005 — As troops and rescue workers combed floodwaters for survivors, the death toll from a burst dam in Pakistan rose to 135 yesterday, and officials said they feared the death toll could mount. About 500 people are still missing from inundated coastal villages.
A total of at least 278 people have died in Pakistan in a week of heavy rain and snow, the heaviest in years in some areas.
The worst-hit area was Pasni and two nearby villages on the Arabian Sea in impoverished southwestern Balochistan province, where heavy rains on Thursday caused the 150-meter-long Shadi Kor dam to burst, sweeping people into the sea.
“So far, the Pakistan Army, Navy and Coast Guards have pulled out 135 bodies from floodwaters in Pasni and two nearby districts,” said Mohammed Ilyas, a senior official at the provincial Crisis Control and Management Cell in Quetta, capital of the southwestern province of Balochistan.
He said that 500 people were still missing, and that 18,000 homes were damaged or destroyed in the area, about 1,900 kilometers southwest of the national capital, Islamabad.
“A large number of people are spending nights in mountains and other safer places — in chilly weather,” Ilyas said.
As many as 85 other people were killed when their homes collapsed amid heavy rains over the past week, according to the state-run Emergency Relief agency.
