Heavy rain kills at least 50 in Pakistan

Floods, landslides in Kashmir kill 60, over 200 missing

FE Team | Published: August 15, 2025 20:22:17

PESHAWAR, Aug 15 (AFP/Reuters): Heavy monsoon rains triggered landslides and flash floods across northern Pakistan, killing at least 50 people in the last 24 hours, disaster authorities said Friday.
The majority of the deaths, 43, were recorded in mountainous Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, according to the province's Disaster Management Authority.
Seven more people were killed in Pakistan-administered Kashmir, regional disaster management authorities said.
A cloudburst washed away several houses in northwestern Bajaur district, killing 18 people and stranding several others, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa's disaster authority told AFP.
The meteorological department has also issued a heavy rain alert for the northwest, urging people to avoid "unnecessary exposure to vulnerable areas".
The monsoon season brings South Asia about three-quarters of its annual rainfall, vital for agriculture and food security, but it also brings destruction.
The torrential rains that have pounded Pakistan since the start of the summer monsoon, described as "unusual" by authorities, have killed more than 320 people, nearly half of them children.
Most of the deaths were caused by collapsing houses, flash floods and electrocutions.
Pakistan is one of the world's most vulnerable countries to the effects of climate change, and its residents are facing extreme weather events with increasing frequency.
Meanwhile, Rescuers in Indian Kashmir used shovels and earthmovers to search for survivors under boulders and debris on Friday, a day after sudden floods triggered by heavy rains killed at least 60 people and left 200 others missing.
Gushing mudslides and floodwaters inundated the village of Chasoti on Thursday, washing away pilgrims who had gathered for lunch before trekking up the hill for a popular religious site, in the second such disaster in the Himalayas in a little over a week.
"We heard a huge sound and it was followed by a flash flood and slush. People were shouting, and some of them fell in the Chenab River. Others were buried under the debris," said Rakesh Sharma, a pilgrim who was injured.
Bags, clothes and other belongings, caked in mud, lay scattered amid broken electric poles and mud on Friday, as rescue workers used ropes and crossed makeshift bridges in an attempt to extricate people from the debris.
At least 60 people were killed, more than 100 injured and another 200 still missing, Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir Omar Abdullah told reporters on Friday.