HARIPUR: A minor girl was killed while her three siblings and uncle were injured when their motorcycle they were riding was swept away by a flooded watercourse in Ghazi tehsil of Haripur on Thursday, police and residents said.

The body of the girl was later found on the bank of the Indus River about two kilometres downstream near Khalo village.

Muzamil Nishad, a resident of Mohallah Zamindaran, was taking his four minor nephews and nieces on his motorcycle to Army Public School Tarbela when a heavy current of hill torrent in Kundi watercourse swept them all.

The villagers, present on the occasion, jumped after them and managed to retrieve three children identified as Mehmoona Fatima, Mohammad Talal and Mohammad Bilal and their paternal uncle Muzamil. However Momina Fatima, 8, went missing.

House collapses in Swabi; nine cows swept away in Kohat

The injured children and their uncle were shifted to tehsil headquarters hospital Ghazi for emergency treatment. They were later shifted to CMH Tarbela where, according to doctors and police, their condition was out of danger.

The rescue workers launched an operation for the missing girl but failed to find her. However, the villagers spotted her body on the bank of Indus near Khalo and shifted it to tehsil headquarters hospital in the afternoon.

The heavy rain, started early in the morning on Thursday, continued intermittently throughout the day, damaging dirt ways and roads in Haripur.

Locals said that the area of about two kilometres between Hattar Industrial Estate Railway Crossing to Dohriyan village received heavy hailstorm and rain. They said that standing and harvested crops, vegetables and fruits were damaged due to hailstorm.

In Swabi, a house collapsed due to heavy rain and hailstorm while three persons, who were trapped in the floodwater, were saved alive by Rescue 1122 team here on Thursday.

The torrential downpour caused collapse of house of Lal Jan in Gandaf village of Gadoon Amazai and two goats were killed under the debris.

The rain and hailstones badly affected crops and vegetables, huge losses to farmers. The farmers demanded of government to declare the district as a calamity-hit area.

According to reports received from Salim Khan, Bamkhel, Baja, Maneri and many other areas said that harvested wheat crop was floating in the floodwater and growers were looking at them helplessly. Hailstone also damaged tobacco, sugarcane and wheat crops in Koladand area of Maneri Payyan, Saleem Khan and other villages.

In Topi city, the Topi Badri Nullah, which passes through main road, was in a high flood and traffic on Topi-Tarbela road remained suspended for hours.

The floodwater entered various houses and shops. Roads in Topi headquarters were submerged by floodwater.

Three people, who were trapped in floodwater in Panjpir, were saved by Rescue 1122 team.

In Swat, heavy rain coupled with hailstorms damaged crops and orchards in Matta, Khwazkhela and Bahrain.

The severe hailstorm damaged standing crops, vegetables and fruit orchards in Gwalerai, Biha, Rodingar, Chatekal and Sulatan areas of Matta tehsil.

“The hailstorm inflicted heavy losses on farmers and orchard owners. It also killed many chickens in the areas while several animals were injured,” said Arshad Jan, a resident of Matta.

Torrential rains flooded ravines in Haji Baba area of Mingora. The flood water blocked Mingora-Kokarai road and inundated several shops.

In Kohat, nine cows were swept away by water and a pipe of Sui Northern Gas Pipelines providing gas to Hangu district and its Thall tehsil from Kohat was broken.

The cows were washed away in Darmalk area of Lachi tehsil.

The SNGPL sources said that technical staff would arrive from Wah Cantt to repair the line and restore gas supply to Hangu district.

In Hazara, snowfall and rains continued on the fourth consecutive day on Thursday.

The sporadic downpour continued in Mansehra, Torghar, Upper Kohistan, Lower Kohistan and Kolai-Palas the entire day, blocking various arteries to traffic.

The continued rains triggered landslides in Konsh and Siren valleys of Mansehra and blocked arteries linking lower parts with the high-altitude and mountainous areas. The tourist resort of Shogran also received a downpour.

The snowfall, which started at high-altitude parts of Kaghan valley, continued on the fourth consecutive day. The Babusar Top, Barawai, Musa-da-Mussala and the longest mountainous range of Malka-i-Parbat received the heaviest snowfall sporadically the entire day. Because of continues rains and snowfall in Kaghan, the Kunhar River swelled and flowed at an extreme level.

Mansehra-Naran-Jalkhad road, which links Khyber Pakhtunkhwa with Gilgit-Baltistan, remained blocked to all sorts of traffic.

Published in Dawn, May 5th, 2023