KARACHI, 24 June 2007 — Forty people were killed and many injured by heavy wind and rain in Karachi yesterday.
Many died in roof collapses and in electrocutions with much of Pakistan’s largest city and its commercial capital plunged into darkness after its power system collapsed.
“At least 40 people have died and around 150 were injured in today’s rain,” Syed Sardar Ahmed, health minister for Sindh province said. Ahmed said that 13 people died in the impoverished Gadap neighborhood where roofs of shanty houses collapsed due to huge thunderstorms.
“We have declared an emergency at all government hospitals and canceled the vacations and leave of doctors and paramedics,” he added. The thunderstorm in Karachi wreaked havoc within an hour yesterday afternoon, with the Met office saying the port city received 17.2 mm of rain.
