Over 40 killed in rain-triggered incidents in Pakistan

At least 43 people were killed, hundreds of others injured and tens of thousands displaced in flooding and rain-related accidents in Pakistan's Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan, local media and officials said Saturday.

Chitral district of the country's northwest Khyber Pakhtunkwa province was the worst-hit area where 30 people were killed in the flash floods caused by the heavy monsoon rains, the Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA) of the province said.

The torrential rains triggered flash floods that damaged houses, shops, hospitals, bridges and government installations.

The PDMA said that over 300 houses were swept away in floodwater.

Four roads linking the other parts of the province to the district were thoroughly damaged, while 40 bridges were also swept away by the floodwater.

The flood water destroyed 11 irrigation channels and over 60 water supply schemes, cutting off the drinking water supply to the district.

The standing crops at about 1,200 acres of land were also destroyed in flash floods.

South Punjab was also badly affected by the heavy rains where three people were killed and many became homeless.

The National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) of the country said that the rain water inundated over 100 villages in the South Punjab, affecting hundreds of families.

10 people were killed in the country's southwest Balochistan province where a bus carrying pilgrims was swept away in flash flood earlier this week.

Teams from PDMA, NDMA and Pakistani army are carrying out rescue and relief operation in the affected areas.

Meanwhile, 180 people stranded in the flood water were shifted by an Army helicopter to Chitral.

According to Pakistan Air Force (PAF) spokesman, the PAF is undertaking rescue and relief operations in the flood affected areas of Chitral on the instructions of the government.

"Up to 350 villages have been damaged in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province and 422 in Punjab. An overall population of 250,000 has been affected due to floods," he said.

The heavy monsoon rains started lashing the country on July 15, and continued over the next week throughout the country.

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has announced a 5-million-U.S. dollar aid package for Chitral, and visited flood relief camps in Punjab province on Friday, local media reported.

Monsoon rains hit Pakistan every year in June and the season normally ends in the first week of September. During this period, the country receives heavy rains which cause flooding in various areas.

The most destructive flood hit the country in 2010 that hit parts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Punjab and Sindh. The flood swept away 20 percent of the land, killed 1,540 people and injured 2,088. According to a UN report, 557,226 houses were destroyed, and over 6 million people displaced in the flood. Endi