MARDAN/GILGIT/MIRPUR, Aug 6: Twenty more bodies were recovered from Kalpani nullah on Sunday, bringing the death toll in the Mardan bridge collapse to 44, while elsewhere in the NWFP, six members of a family were killed when a house in Malagori tehsil of the Khyber Agency succumbed to heavy rains.

Continued rains in Northern Areas and Azad Kashmir claimed six lives while heavy landsliding blocked the Karakoram Highway and nearly all other roads and highways, isolating the Northern Areas from the rest of the country.

According to local administration in Mardan, rescue teams comprising armymen and local divers, recovered 20 more bodies from Kalpani nullah as search continued on the second day of the bridge collapse. Seven persons were still missing.

Life in the city came to a standstill as majority of the people searched their relatives or those who drowned.

Floodwater also entered many villages of Nowshera district, damaging farmland and houses.

Meanwhile, Chief Minister Akram Khan Durrani visited the flood-hit areas of Mardan district. He ordered an immediate reconstruction of Mardan bridge.

He announced the release of Rs1 million to the district government and compensation of Rs100,000 each for the deceased and Rs50,000 each for the injured.

Meanwhile, in Malagori tehsil of the Khyber Agency, a house collapsed due to heavy rains on Saturday night, leaving six people of a family dead and one seriously injured.

According to officials, the single room mud-house, located in Tatara village, came down on all the inmates. Only the head of the family, Khan Mullah, could be rescued and was shifted to the hospital in a critical condition. Mullah’s wife, his four daughters and a son were among the dead.

Flash-flood triggered by heavy rains claimed the lives of two people in Diamer district’s Gasse Payeen village, 121 kilometres south of Gilgit, police said.

They said Faqeer and Bibi Zahra were killed when their village situated on the left bank of the River Indus was swept away by the floodwater.

Karakoram Highway remained blocked for the second day due to heavy landsliding in Gonar Farm, Geeni and Chilas areas. Heavy rains blocked nearly all the main roads viz, Gilgit-Skardu, Ghizer-Chitral, Gilgit-Astore-Diamer and Gilgit-Hunza-China cutting the Northern Areas off the rest of the country.

APP adds: In Mirpur district of Azad Kashmir, four people of a family were killed while another one was injured as a house succumbed to heavy rain in a village near Islamgarh town.