At least nine people were died when a passenger bus was flushed away by rain water while crossing a poorly constructed bridge in a remote area in Pakistan administered Kashmir, officials say.
They fear more casualties as the ill-fated bus was boarding over 22 passengers. Rescuers recovered nine dead bodies. They are searching for six missing passengers who are feared to be dead.
Six injured persons were rushed to the hospitals where their condition is stated to be stable.
Monsoon rains have already killed at least 20 people in different parts of Pakistan administrated Kashmir.
Officials say that most of the causalities were result of the illegal construction of houses and other structures in the dangerous places like banks of the rivers or mudslide prone areas.
Government has ordered concerned departments to evacuate the people illegally residing in dangerous and prohibited areas.
According to the media estimates three thousands homes and business structures have been affected by current torrential rains in capital city Muzaffarabad.
At least fifteen thousand people were either displaced or affected when rain water entered in their homes.
Staff of State Disaster Management Authority is collecting the details of loss in the rest of areas, where few link roads have been blocked by the landslides.
Officials also describe 2005 earthquake for recent landslides. They say that deadly tremor had caused cracks to the fragile mountains. Earlier, more than 50 houses were threatened by a huge landslide in a village to the northwest of Muzaffarabad city and close to the epicenter of October 2005 earthquake last week.
International aid agencies and environmental groups have been pressing government to ensure the building codes; however, the response of relevant government departments has reportedly been sluggish.
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