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Landslide kills 10 in Pakistan

Other News Materials 4 January 2010 19:58 (UTC +04:00)
At least 10 people were killed when a massive landslide hit a remote village in Pakistan's mountainous northern areas on Monday.
Landslide kills 10 in Pakistan

At least 10 people were killed when a massive landslide hit a remote village in Pakistan's mountainous northern areas on Monday, dpa reported.

The incident occurred at Attabad in Hunza, a picturesque valley in the country's Gilgit-Baltistan region, 720 kilometres north of the capital, Islamabad.

Local Geo TV quoting hospital officials said that so far 10 dead bodies had been transported to their emergency and casualty department.

The landslide also destroyed 26 houses, and injured a number of people.

The debris fell into the adjacent Hunza River and blocked the flow of water. The stoppage of the river created a huge lake and danger of flooding in the area.

The local administration started the rescue work and asked the people on low lying areas to immediately shift to safer places. Efforts were going on to restore the normal flow of the river.

The director general of the Disaster Management Authority Gilgt- Baltistan, Usman Younis said he feared that more people could be trapped inside the collapsed houses.

The administration declared an emergency in Hunza and closed its main road linking the town to other areas for ordinary traffic.

Attabad is known for landslides and many of its over 100 houses developed cracks after a similar earthslip nearly three years ago.

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