At least 12 members of a family, including nine children, were killed when a massive landslide triggered by heavy monsoon rain hit a house in northwestern Pakistan on Friday, officials said.
The tragic incident took place in the Maidan area of Upper Dir district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, police said.
The law enforcers said all 12 bodies have been retrieved from the debris and sent to the hospital for medico-legal formalities.
Two women, one man and nine children were killed in the incident, the Dawn newspaper quoted an official as saying.
Pakistan has been hit by heavy monsoon rains in recent days. Pakistan's annual monsoon season runs from July through September.
Pakistan Meteorological Department is forecasting more widespread rain with windstorms all across the country during the next 24 hours.
In a statement, the Met Office said heavy rainfall is likely in Sindh, northeast/south Balochistan, northeast/central Punjab, Potohar region, Islamabad, Gilgit-Baltistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa during the period.
Heavy rains may trigger landslides in Murree, Galliyat, Mansehra, Kohistan, Chitral, Dir, Swat, Shangla, Buner and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.
The coastal areas of Pakistan are bracing for a ‘rare’ cyclonic storm likely over the northeast Arabian Sea along Sindh’s coast.
