File Photo. A. Majeed—AFP
At least 26 people killed after vehicle carrying 29 people washed off road.
At least 26 people were killed on Saturday when a vehicle carrying wedding guests was washed off a mountainous road by floodwater and flung into a gorge, an official said. The dead included 18 children and six women.
“Rescue operation has been completed, bodies of 26 people have been retrieved,” said Rahimullah Mehsud, a local government official of Khyber tribal district, where the incident took place. Mehsud earlier said rescue workers and residents were facing difficulties as the “area is remote and mountainous.”
The accident happened when a pick-up truck carrying the groom’s party of 29 was hit by floods in a remote village in Khyber Agency, one of Pakistan’s seven tribal districts bordering Afghanistan. Three people who survived were taken to hospital.
Hekmat Khan, another government official, confirmed the new death toll and told AFP that the child victims were aged up to nine years.
Heavy monsoon rains began earlier this month, drenching the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and central Punjab provinces, which have been badly affected by flooding in recent years that some scientists have linked to climate change.