Monsoon rains in Pakistan claim over 50 lives

LAHORE: More than 50 people have been killed as a result of heavy monsoon rains in Pakistan, officials said, as authorities warned more intense rainfall and flash floods could be imminent.

Most of the deaths were caused by roof collapses in buildings in Punjab, with 14 people killed in the provincial capital Lahore.



"At least 28 people have been killed in different incidents of roof collapses in Punjab province during the last 24 hours," Jam Sajjad, a spokesman for rescue services told AFP. He said the dead included women and children, and 28 people had been injured. Three of the dead died due to electrocution - one person in Lahore and two others in the eastern town of Kasur.

Rizwan Naseer, the director general of rescue services in Punjab said the injured were being moved to hospitals. "We have been removing the debris to search for survivors and the injured," Naseer said, adding that the toll was likely to rise as more information came in from around the province.

In Azad Kashmir, 10 people were killed and four others injured, disaster management agency chairman Akram Sohail told AFP. He said there had been some flash flooding in the Himalayan territory and warned that the rivers Jhelum and Neelum were close to overflowing in some places. Also in Kashmir, three soldiers died in a mudslide near the border with India.

Pakistan's meteorological office warned that more heavy rain and thunderstorms were expected in Punjab and the north of the country in the coming 72 hours and could cause flooding in major rivers.