Toll rises to 350 in Pakistan floods

The death toll due to continued monsoon rains in Pakistan rose to 350 on Friday, government officials claimed, as tens of thousands of people are still trapped in flooding waters that submerged dozens of villages across Pakistan.

The ongoing monsoon rains brought misery to people in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Baluchistan and parts of Punjab and caused widespread population displacement. The ill-equipped rescue workers were struggling to reach people in far-flung areas.

Worst hit was the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province where flash floods and torrential rains killed nearly 300 people. Television footage showed images of people clinging to woods, trees and fences while many more took shelter on rooftops of buildings amid pools of flooded waters.

The province's information minister, Mian Iftikhar Hussain, said it was the worst flooding in the region since 1928. Hussain urged the government to provide them 200 boats to deal with the crisis. He said that two construction camps of Chinese engineers had been washed away in flash floods in Kohistan region. "Forty-six Chinese engineers have been rescued, but nine are still missing. Two hundred Chinese nationals, who were working on a power project, are also stranded in the Dobair valley of Kohistan district," he said.

Hussain estimated 400,000 people were stranded in various northwest villages. According to UN estimate, more than 5000 homes were washed away in only Charsadda district, 30 kilometers north of Peshawar.

Until late Thursday, large areas of the province remained disconnected from the country. The highway connecting Peshawar to Islamabad was shut down after the water washed away bridges and other links.

"At least 291 people died in various parts of that province over the last three days," said Noman Khan, an official of the disaster management authority. The tolls from the torrential rains were expected to rise because many people were still missing. Continued poor weather also may have been a factor in Wednesday's plane crash that left 152 people dead in Islamabad.

Baluchistan province has also been hit hard by the recent rains. Last week, flash floods in the region killed at least 51 people and swept away thousands of homes. The UN statement Thursday said 150,000 people became homeless there.

On Thursday evening, emergency was declared in the garrison city of Rawalpindi after rain water touched a deadly level. Dozens of villages were inundated in Rajanpur, Rojhan and Tonsa areas of Punjab.