Roof Collapse In Northern Pakistan Kills 5, Injures 3

[News_Editor]

Roof collapse in northern Pakistan kills 5, injures 3 < br />

2012-09-05 19:51:46 GMT+7 (ICT)

PESHAWAR, PAKISTAN (BNO NEWS) -- The roof of a residential building collapsed in the northwestern Pakistani city of Peshawar on Tuesday morning, killing a couple and three of their children, local media reported on Wednesday. The collapse was reportedly triggered by heavy rainfall.

The accident occurred early in the morning in the BazarKalan area, which is located in Peshawar, the capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, as torrential rains affected the region. It caused the roof of a dilapidated house to collapse, trapping a family of eight people, according to Pakistan Today.

The report said home owner Miraj Gul was trapped along with his wife and their six children. Rescue 1122 team reached the scene and later recovered the bodies of Gul, his wife, two sons and a daughter. Three children were rescued, including a 15-year-old boy identified as Bilal, according to SAMAA-TV.

Heavy monsoon rains in northern Pakistan have killed at least 46 people in recent weeks, according to the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA). The worst-hit area is Pakistan-administered Kashmir, where emergency officials have reported that at least 28 people were killed and eleven others were injured.

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.

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