Pakistan Dam Bursts, Dozens Dead

Troops and rescue workers raced to a coastal town devastated when heavy rains burst a large dam, sending water surging through the streets and sweeping people into the Arabian Sea. At least 54 were dead and hundreds missing, officials said Friday.

Coast guard units combed the area with fishing nets, pulling bodies out of the flood waters in the worst of several disasters caused by extreme winter weather in Pakistan over the past week or so.

The 485-foot-long Shakidor Dam burst late Thursday near the remote Pasni village in Baluchistan province, about 1,180 miles southwest of the capital, Islamabad. The torrent of water from the ruined dam swept trucks out to sea and destroyed telephone lines, roads and eight bridges, according to officials and witnesses.

The exact human toll was unclear Friday.

Pakistan's army said 1,200 people had been rescued from the floodwaters, while another 500 were evacuated from the area. Some 400 remained missing, said army spokesman Mudasser Butt.

A provincial Cabinet minister, Sher Jan Baluch, said the number of missing ranged from 400 to 500 people, and that he feared the death toll might rise — though some of the missing might be sheltering in homes or in the mountains above flooded areas.

About 3,000 troops backed by helicopters, coast guard cutters and C-130 transport planes had reached Pasni by Friday with food, medicine and tents.

"The army has started rescue operations to try to save as many lives as possible," Baluch said.

Continued heavy rain has hampered the search for survivors, Baluch said, adding that troops had diverted the floodwaters to save nearby towns.

The floodwaters also hit Nano village, washing away crops and damaging homes, but there were no casualties, said resident Ilyas Khan, 32.

The water damaged much of the Karachi-Pasni highway — a main road link in the area — and made travel difficult, said an army officer posted to guard a broken bridge on the highway out of Nano. He spoke on condition of anonymity.

The Shakidor dam was built in 2003 to provide irrigation for surrounding farms.

Apart from the dam accident, the weather has left dozens of people dead or missing around Pakistan, according to officials.

At least two people were killed and 18 missing when floodwaters overturned their bus early Friday in southern Pakistan, while an avalanche in the country's northwest buried 30 soldiers in their vehicles. Elsewhere, the snow and rain caused fatal housing collapses.

Pakistan has been hit by more than a week of heavy rain and snow, and more severe weather was expected in the next two days, said Qamar-uz Zaman Chaudhry, head of the country's meteorological department.
By Zarar Khan