Floods Wash Away Passenger Bus In Northeastern Pakistan, At Least 9 Dead

Floods wash away passenger bus in northeastern Pakistan, at least 9 dead < br />

2012-08-31 08:41:40 GMT+7 (ICT)

MIRPUR, PAKISTAN (BNO NEWS) -- Flash floods swept away a passenger bus in northeastern Pakistan, killing at least nine people with several others still missing, officials said Wednesday.

The passenger bus was reportedly carrying 27 people when it was suddenly hit by flash floods on Tuesday in Pakistan's Azad Jammu and Kashmir while traveling from the town of Palandri to Anjaal Kot.

District police chief Sajaad Hussain said nine bodies had been found, while nine others were rescued alive and receiving medical treatment, the Express Tribune reported. However, another nine people remain unaccounted for.

The late monsoon rains have heavily affected the country's northern region. Earlier this year, the Pakistani government warned that nearly 30 million people across the country could be affected by flooding this year, advising local government officials and local citizens for adequate preparedness. Millions of people were also affected by the monsoon season last year, killing more than 300 people. Some areas saw the worst rainfall since at least 1936.

In late July 2010, above-average heavy monsoon rains in Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Sindh, Punjab and Balochistan regions killed approximately 2,000 people and affected around 20 million others as floods covered about a fifth of the country. Torrential rains overflooded rivers, which went cascading across the country from the mountainous north, inundating successive regions until they reached the sea. It was the country's worst flooding in modern history.

-- © BNO News All rights reserved 2012-08-31