Multiple landslides along the Karakoram Highway, a key road linking the norhtern areas of Pakistan to the rest of the country, left hundreds of passengers and tourists stranded on Friday as authorities announced that Monsoon rains have claimed 50 lives across the country.
The rains have lashed the northern regions of Pakistan including Gilgit-Baltistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, where higher than usual rainfall has been forecast for this Monsoon season.
“Fifty deaths have been reported in different rain-related incidents all over Pakistan since the start of the monsoon on June 25,” a national disaster management official told AFP, adding that 87 people were injured during this period.
Among the dead were 8 children who were crushed to death in a massive landslide in the Shangla district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in Martong.
There were other landslides on Friday morning.
Due to rains and landslides, the Karakoram Highway has been closed at Cadet College Chilas and Tatta Pani, Aaj News reported.
The highway authorities were still struggling to respond and to reopen the Karakoram Highway as of Friday noon. The stranded passengers demanded that the highway be restored soon.
On the other hand, over two inches of snow fell on Babusar Top, while the rain continued in Mansehra, Balakot, and Naran, due to which the flow of water in the Kunhar River increased.
The administration has closed Babusar Top to tourists and locals.
Balakot DSP said that Babusar Top was closed due to bad weather and that the road would be opened when the weather improves.
The northern parts of Pakistan are under a heavy spell of Monsoon rains.
The Meteorological Department warned of flooding in the low-lying areas and landslides in mountainous areas.
A forecast said that more rains were expected in Islamabad, Azad Kashmir, Gilgit-Baltistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Punjab, East and North-East Balochistan and Sindh on Friday.
