79 killed, 97 injured due to heavy rains in Pakistan: Officials

Islamabad: At least 79 people were killed and 97 injured in separate rain-triggered accidents in Pakistan over the past 10 days, authorities said on Saturday. 

The National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) said the country's northwestern tribal area was the worst-hit where 22 people were killed, 33 injured and 36 houses collapsed in incidents caused by torrential rains. 

In a separate incident in Orakzai Agency of the tribal belt, seven labourers were killed and 10 injured when a coal mine caved in due to landsliding caused by heavy rain.

The country's southern Balochistan province also saw heavy rain which led to several incidents of roof collapse. 

The NDMA said 19 people were killed, 20 injured and 50 houses collapsed in the heavy downpour in various areas of the province. 

A total of 11 people were killed in seven separate house collapse incidents in the country's northeastern Azad Jammu and Kashmir region. 

The Inter-Services Public Relations said that heavy rains caused landsliding in the mountainous region of Kashmir which led to casualties. The country's eastern Punjab province was also affected by the rains where 10 people were killed, 18 injured and four houses collapsed.

In the country's northwestern Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province, 10 people were killed, 16 injured and 77 houses destroyed due to torrential rains.