At least eight volunteers lost their lives and three others were injured when a massive landslide struck during restoration work on the flood-affected Danyor Nullah in Gilgit in the early hours of Monday.
According to Gilgit-Baltistan government spokesperson Faizullah Firaq, the incident occurred around 2am when a group of about 15 volunteers was repairing a water channel damaged by recent floods.
Tonnes of mud and rocks suddenly collapsed, burying several people under the debris.
Rescue teams, police, and local residents rushed to the scene, pulling four people out in critical condition.
The injured were shifted to hospitals, where an emergency has been declared. Medical assistance for the victims is ongoing, officials said.
At least eight volunteers were killed and several others feared trapped when a landslide hit a flood-damaged water channel in Gilgit’s Danyor Nullah during repair work, police said on Monday.
The volunteers were restoring the channel when a mass of earth collapsed, burying them under debris, said police.
Hospital sources confirmed all the dead were members of a local volunteer team, while three others were injured.
As the search goes on for more survivors, the authorities have declared emergcy at local hospitals.
A provincial government spokesperson said accelerated glacial melt, driven by climate change, had increased water flow in several streams.
The Shishper glacier recently flooded, damaging farmland and closing part of the Karakoram Highway (KKH) towards Hunza. Traffic was being diverted via Nagar Road.
Officials have warned of further rains and landslides in the region.
A significant stretch of the KKH in Upper Hunza’s Morkhun area was destroyed by river erosion, severing the overland link between Pakistan and China, the Gilgit-Baltistan (G-B) government said.
