Death toll after monsoon floods in Pakistan rises to more than 320

The death toll from heavy monsoon rains that have triggered flash floods across northern Pakistan has risen to at least 321 people in the past 48 hours, the country’s disaster authority said on Saturday.

The majority of the deaths, 307, were recorded in the mountainous Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, according to the National Disaster Management Authority.

Nine more people were killed in Pakistan-administered Kashmir, while five died in the northern Gilgit-Baltistan region, it said.

People try to get across a fallen tree in Pakistan-administered Kashmir following flash floods and landslides. Photograph: Amiruddin Mughal/EPA

Most were killed in flash floods and collapsing houses, while 21 others were injured.

The meteorological department has issued a heavy rain alert for Pakistan’s north-west for the next few hours, urging people to take “precautionary measures”.

The provincial government has declared the severely affected mountainous districts of Buner, Bajaur, Swat, Shangla, Mansehra and Battagram disaster-hit areas.

Meanwhile, the provincial rescue agency told AFP that about 2,000 rescue workers were engaged in recovering bodies from the debris and carrying out relief operations in nine affected districts.

A resident navigates through a flooded street in a neighbourhood of Mingora, the main town in the Swat Valley. Photograph: Naveed Ali/AP

“Heavy rainfall, landslides in several areas and washed-out roads are causing significant challenges in delivering aid, particularly in transporting heavy machinery and ambulances,” Bilal Ahmed Faizi, a spokesman for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s rescue agency, said.

“Due to road closures in most areas, rescue workers are traveling on foot to conduct operations in remote regions.

“They are trying to evacuate survivors, but very few people are relocating due to the deaths of their relatives or loved ones being trapped in the debris.”