S.N. Peerzada
BOONI, July 25: As many as 17 bodies of people who died in the flash floods in Mulkhow valley on Friday night were on Saturday laid to rest in their ancestral villages.
The dead included eight members of a family from the Uthool village of Mulkhow. They were identified as Izharul Haq, Alima Bibi, Anwaz Bibi, Ihtiramul Haq, Rahimul Haq, Misbahul Haq, Jamila Bibi and Ihtishamul Haq.
The body of a child swept away in teh floods was recovered in front of Ayun and after identification sent to Mulkhow in a helicopter.
The scenic village of Shogram is completely cut off from the rest of the area and the residents are stranded in the small village.
The area people said over 200 houses and about 150 shops, schools and other buildings were also swept away or damaged in the floods.
The villagers have run out of essential commodities and are in urgent need of help after the only bridge to the area was washed away by floods on Friday.
The local people said over 70 people were still missing. The rescue and search operation has been launched by the flood-affected people on self-help basis as no government or private organization has reached the calamity-hit area to help the people.
On Saturday noon, a helicopter appeared in the area and after hovering over the flood-devastated villages flew away.
A resident of the Yarkhun valley, Dil Nawaz Khan, told ChitralToday after reaching in Booni from Chitral town that flash floods in Barenis Gol, Mroi and Reshun have blocked the main Chitral-Booni road. He said he spent about 18 hours to reach Booni from Chitral, mostly on foot. He said if work was started at a high pace, the broken road in the south of Kuragh would be reconstructed in over a year.