More deaths reported as mercury plummets

Seven die nationwide, including four of a family in Quetta

GILGIT/ QUETTA/ PESHAWAR: As the mercury level continued to drop, more deaths were reported from across the country in snow and rain-related incidents.

At least seven people, most of them children, lost their lives in separate incidents while several others were reported to be injured.

A seven-year-old was killed in the Asman Patai area of Mamond tehsil when the roof of a house buckled due to rain. Another child was injured in the incident.

Separately, a woman identified as Sultana Bibi was killed in another roof collapse incident at Savai area of Mamond tehsil.

Torrential rains hit a house in Thani area of Mamond
tehsil, injuring a woman.

A ten-year-old boy was electrocuted in Gilgit-Baltistan. In another incident, a car was hit by a landslide near Dasu area of Kohistan, injuring three persons on board.

A double-storey mud house collapsed in Quetta, killing four.

According to details, the double-storey house caved in at night in Betni Colony at Nawa Killi, a suburb of the provincial capital.

A woman Khatoon Bibi and her children Fatima, Fawad Khan, and Saima lost their lives in the incident.

Meanwhile, rain continued in the upper region of the country and Balochistan.

The fresh spell of rains has damaged roads connecting Gilgit with Rawalpindi, Skardu and Astore and Ghizer, leaving passengers stranded.

The information department on Thursday issued another warning, asking commuters to avoid travelling to hilly areas.

Lowari Tunnel will remain closed for traffic today (Friday), National Highway Authority announced. Owing to the fresh snowfall resulting in avalanche over Lowari Top, the Lowari Tunnel will remain closed for vehicular traffic. (WITH INPUT FROM APP)

Published in The Express Tribune, January 27^th, 2017.