F.P. Report
PESHAWAR: Several people were injured Tuesday and over 40 containers and trucks were buried in a heavy landslide during a thunder and lightning storm on Export Road near Torkham Border in the Khyber district.
The Pakistan Army personnel dashed to the landslide site to take part in the relief and rescue operation.
According to Khyber Deputy Commissioner Abdul Nasir Khan, more than five containers also caught fire in the landslide incident. The fire was overcome, and heavy machinery was called in from Peshawar and Nowshera to retrieve the vehicles as wreckage is quite extensive, he added.
A relief operation supervised by the Khyber deputy commissioner and the district police officer was underway.
Over 100 officials of the district administration, rescue, police, Frontier Corp, and National Logistic Cell (NLC) were busy carrying out the relief operation.
Rescue teams from Khyber, Peshawar, Nowshera, Charsadda and Mardan were also taking part in the operation.
Eight people were shifted to hospital in injured condition.
At least 12 ambulances, four fire vehicles, three recovery vehicles and as many heavy excavators of Rescue 1122 were participating in the operation.
According to the rescue sources, parts of two dead bodies were spotted in the debris, and they will be recovered after cutting the stone and the parts of the vehicles.
Difficulties were being faced in carrying out the relief operation due to the fear of another landslide.
The Khyber DC said two Afghan citizens had been killed, and authorities were trying to recover the bodies. Several other people had been taken to hospital and the number of casualties could rise, he added.
The landslide took place in the early hours of Tuesday on the main route connecting Pakistan with land-locked Afghanistan, a major transit point for trade between the South Asian nations and into Central Asia.
Photos shared by officials showed truck containers mostly buried in huge piles of rocks.
The landslide struck Torkham border post, the busiest and most important transit point for trade between the two countries, as more than 120 trucks were waiting to cross.
Drivers and their assistants were cooking pre-dawn meals on gas stoves ahead of a day of fasting during Ramadan.
“The fire is under control now. The rescue operation is ongoing with the help of excavators and other heavy machinery,” Rescue 1122 official Faizi added.
The cause of the landslide was not immediately clear, but one official said heavy machinery had been in use for months on an expansion project in the hills surrounding the border post.
Torrential overnight rain may also have contributed, said the official, Ali Raza.
Authorities have closed the border crossing for trucks and other vehicles, but it remains open for foot traffic, Raza said.
