At least two persons were killed and dozens more were reportedly trapped in the landslide that buried more than 20 trucks on the main road through Khyber Pass in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa near Torkham Border on Tuesday during a thunder and lightning storm.
Abdul Nasir Khan, the Khyber district’s deputy commissioner, said that two Afghan civilians had perished in the landslide and that rescue workers were working to find their remains.
Separately, the spokesperson for Rescue 1122, Bilal Faizi, reported that four injured people had been sent to the hospital and eight injured people had received first aid treatment.
According to the official, while drivers prepared meals for sehri on gas burners immediately following the landslide, a fire broke out. The fire has been put out.
Faizi reported that a large amount of heavy equipment, including 12 ambulances, four fire trucks, three recovery vehicles, and three huge excavators, had been brought to the scene.
Images released by authorities showed truck containers mostly buried in massive rock heaps.
The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Disaster Management Authority reported that the landslide occurred at 2:30 am today on the key road leading to the Pakistan-Afghanistan Torkham border.
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It added that teams from Khyber, Peshawar, Nowshera, Charsadda, and Mardan were taking part in the ongoing rescue operation. As a result, 15 to 20 cargo cars were buried in the landslide, it said.
Shehbaz Sharif, the prime minister, expressed his sorrow and grief for the incident’s fatalities. He prayed for the injured people to recover quickly and gave the necessary authorities orders to get them the finest medical care possible.
Additionally, he gave the go-ahead to the responsible officials to expedite the rescue effort and open the route to traffic as soon as feasible.
Closed Karakoram Highway
As a result of a landslide that struck the key thoroughfare today, the Karakoram Highway was closed at a number of locations, cutting down communication between Gilgit-Baltistan and Islamabad.
According to Dasu Station House Officer (SHO) Noor Nabi Shah, Monday night’s torrential rains led to flooding in the Uchar Nullah and damaged a temporary bridge close to the Dasu hydropower project’s Barseen Chinese camp.
He added that numerous people had been left stranded and that multiple roads in Upper Kohistan and Diamer, in addition to the Karakoram Highway, had been shut by the landslides.
