2 killed in rain-related incidents in KP, taking two-day tally to 9: PDMA
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LAHORE/PESHAWAR: Rain-related incidents claimed the lives of two men in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on Thursday, while Punjab witnessed two deaths in the last 24 hours due to similar occurrences, authorities said. According to the Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD), a fresh monsoon spell across the country was set to begin from July 1 and continue till July 6. Two deaths from a roof collapse incident in Mansehra took the number of lives lost since July 1 to nine, data from the KP Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA) showed. At around 2am, torrential rain in Mansehra caused the roof of a temporary mud-and-wood shelter to collapse, claiming the lives of two shepherds and injuring four others, PDMA said. Providing a breakdown of the total deaths since Wednesday, PDMA said they included four men, four children and a woman. Meanwhile, the 23 injured comprised 11 men, as many minors and a woman. Two lives were lost each in Khyber and Mansehra, while Buner, Haripur, Nowshera, Shangla and Upper Dir saw one death each. Five of those injured were from Lower Dir, and four each from Bajaur, Khyber, Mansehra and Mardan. A woman was wounded in Nowshera, while a child was hurt in Shangla. While a police officer had said 21 female students were injured in a stampede after lightning struck near their seminary in Upper Dir, a PDMA report said they had fallen unconscious and no injury was reported, excluding the incident from its figures. Additionally, a total of 163 cattle perished, including 138 in Lower Chitral and 25 in Upper Dir, PDMA said. The rainfall impacted infrastructure as well, with Lower Chitral accounting for 30 of the total 41 damaged houses. Two were fully damaged, while 28 were partially affected in the district, which saw flash floods caused by heavy rain. Six houses were fully or partially damaged in Shangla, while three were partially impacted in Upper Chitral. Human losses and infrastructure damage recorded from July 1-July 2 in KP. — PDMA Lower Chitral w