At least nine people died when a rescue boat capsized during flooding efforts in Pakistan, authorities announced on Friday. The incident took place Thursday in a village near Multan, a declaration by the provincial Punjab Disaster Management Authority (PDMA).
He said that the boat had rescued 24 people in flooded villages when it overthrew, adding that the other 15 had been withdrawn from water safely.
Rescue officials say that the villagers refused to leave their house in some parts of rural Pakistan, in particular without their cows, goats and other animals, one of their main sources of income, which often leads to forced evacuations.
Rescue work in the region is “difficult because people do not cooperate,” said authority. The floods triggered by the intense monsoon rains of this year and the swollen rivers killed 946 people, including 97 in the province, in Pakistan since the end of June, and have flooded large areas of cultures.
The authorities say that the floods have submerged more than 4,500 villages, affecting more than 4.4 million people in the province since the end of August. Until now, at least 2.4 million people have been evacuated, they say.
Last week, five people, including a woman and four children, lost their lives after a boat carrying victims of flood capsized during an evacuation operation in Jalalpur Pirwala.
According to Rescue 1122, more than 20 people were on board when the boat overturned due to high water. The rescue teams responded quickly and managed to save more than a dozen people.
