The Pakistani military rescued 52 people in a remote villageof Pakistan’s Neelum Valley where torrential rains triggered off by acloudburst wreaked havoc in the region, an Army statement said on Tuesday.
According to the the army’s media wing Inter-Services PublicRelations, the 52 individuals have been evacuated to camps and safer places.Search operation for drowned persons is in progress, Xinhua news agencyreported.
Local media reports said that 22 people — two securitypersonnel, nine locals and 11 preachers who were staying in a mosque werekilled after being wiped out by flashflood in the region on Monday.
The State Disaster Management Authority (SDMA) is leadingthe operation with assistance of the federal National Disaster ManagementAuthority and the military.
Talking to Xinhua, Saeed ur Rehman Qureshi, director ofoperations at the SDMA, confirmed that 150 houses and two mosques were washedaway by the flashflood.
He added that the cloudburst took place in a remote villagein the region so the killed or trapped people did not include any local orforeign tourist, except the preachers who were swept away with the mosque.
Explaining the cloudburst, Muhammad Riaz, the DirectorGeneral of the Pakistan Meteorological Department, told Xinhua that suchweather pattern is very rare, occurring during the monsoon season and ithappens when warm air mixes with cold monsoon air.
He added that sometimes monsoon clouds get burst bymountains coming in their way, and the rain which has to scatter in a largerarea pours down in a narrow radius.