Hazards of rain: Roofs collapse, leaving at least 14 dead

Even though the downpour was light, it claimed many lives.

HYDERABAD: The monsoon rains claimed at least 14 lives, including six children and two women, by Thursday in Tando Muhammad Khan and Mirpurkhas districts.

In Mirpurkhas, the downpour began on Wednesday morning and it was light but persistent, the meteorological office recorded 52 millimetres rain in 24 hours. Thirty people, gathered together to offer condolences for the death of 45-year-old Raeesa Bano and her two-year-old grandchild, Hassan, were injured when the roof caved in Raeesa Bano and Hassan also died when the roof of their house collapsed.

In  Tando Muhammad Khan, three children and a woman lost their lives. Iman Khatoon, 5, Sahiba, 8, and their mother, Chuttal Khatoon, were killed in Ali Nawaz Mallah’s house. Shazia, 12, also died because of a roof collapse.

Soomar Chandio, Karim Baksh and 10-year-old Shahida from Gohram Chandio village, Misal Ali Rind from Rahim Baksh Rind village, 45-year-old Muhammad Ismail Khaskheli of Bhatti Mohalla, Muhammad Ali, 38, from Jhudo village and an eight-month-old Asim from a village near Tandojam were also victims of a collapsed roof.

Twenty-year-old Khalid drowned in the Mir Wah Gorchani Nullah.

Separately, four children were severely injured when a newly-built school came down in the Bhitshah tehsil.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 12^th, 2011.