A rescue boat evacuating people displaced by flooding capsized on the swollen Indus River in Pakistan’s eastern Punjab province on Tuesday, killing nine people, regional officials said Thursday.
The wooden boat, carrying about 20 people, overturned when strong winds and fast currents caused it to lose balance, Musarrat Jabeen, the region’s top government administrator, told reporters. Rescuers initially recovered five bodies during an hours-long operation, and Pakistan Army divers later pulled four more from the water. Authorities said the dead included women and children.
The capsizing came as other parts of southern Punjab reeled from separate flood incidents. On Saturday, five people died on the outskirts of Jalalpur Pirwala after rising waters from the Chenab and Sutlej rivers inundated the area following upriver releases from Indian reservoirs, local officials said. Rescuers have worked to reinforce an embankment protecting Jalalpur Pirwala after deluges inundated nearby villages and displaced tens of thousands.
Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz Sharif visited the hardest-hit areas this week and ordered police to intervene after residents complained that private boat operators were charging excessive fares for evacuations. Sharif said she had directed strict monitoring of boat operations on social media and that the government would compensate private boat owners for evacuation work. Emergency services deployed about 100 boats equipped with life jackets and floodlights, and four helicopters were put into use for airlifting residents and delivering food, officials said.
Relief Commissioner Nabil Javed said nearly 142,000 people had been affected in Jalalpur Pirwala and dozens of nearby villages, with many displaced to relief camps, embankments or the homes of relatives. Since Aug. 23, floods have submerged roughly 4,000 villages across Punjab, displacing about 2.1 million people and killing at least 68, the Punjab Disaster Management Authority reported.
Nationwide, Pakistan has experienced widespread flooding since late June, with authorities reporting more than 900 deaths across the country. Officials and relief agencies say the flooding has been intensified by heavier-than-normal monsoon rains and repeated water releases from overflowing reservoirs in India.
Local residents and aid workers said many people in flood-hit areas were still waiting for assistance, sleeping in tents, on embankments or along roads. Senior Punjab Cabinet Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb said she was personally overseeing rescue and relief efforts after officials and residents raised concerns about shortages of evacuation boats.
Officials said search-and-rescue operations would continue as teams tally missing people and assess damage to homes and infrastructure. Army divers and other emergency personnel remained on the scene to recover bodies and support evacuations, and authorities warned residents to stay clear of fast-flowing rivers and breached embankments as water levels and currents remained unpredictable.