QUETTA(National Times)- Four people, including a woman and three children, were killed and more than a dozen others injured after the roofs of two houses collapsed in Zhob and Khuzdar amid heavy monsoon rains lashing parts of Balochistan, officials said on Thursday.
Officials said the pre-monsoon rains, which began the previous day, disrupted normal life across several districts. Flash floods damaged inter-district roads, while heavy rainfall caused widespread destruction to homes, crops and infrastructure.
The roof-collapse incidents occurred near Bacha Khan School and in Shamsi Colony in Zhob, where the roofs of two mud houses caved in under the weight of the rain.
“A woman and two children were buried under the debris and died before they could be shifted to hospital,” a local administration official said, adding that around a dozen members of the two affected families were injured.
Police, district administration officials and rescue teams rushed to the scene soon after receiving reports of the incident and launched a rescue operation.
“Rescue workers retrieved the bodies and evacuated the injured, who were shifted to the District Headquarters Hospital in Zhob,” officials said, adding that those with serious injuries were later referred to Quetta for specialised treatment. After the completion of medico-legal formalities, the bodies were handed over to the victims’ families for burial.
Child killed
In a separate rain-related incident, a child was killed and four other people were injured in Khuzdar district. Reports said heavy rain accompanied by thunderstorms damaged mud houses and uprooted trees and billboards in several parts of the district.
Heavy rainfall was also reported in Dera Murad Jamali, Jaffarabad, Usta Muhammad and Jhal Magsi districts, where standing crops suffered extensive damage. Rainwater inundated low-lying and slum areas, forcing many residents to evacuate after water entered their homes.
Power supply remained suspended in many parts of Balochistan, including Quetta, due to the adverse weather. According to official reports, rainfall continued in Zhob, Loralai, Musakhail, Qila Saifullah, Ziarat, Muslim Bagh and other parts of northern Balochistan on Thursday.
