By IANS
Islamabad : At least 250 persons have died in Sindh and Balochistan due to heavy rains, Cyclone Yemyin and landslides, the Pakistan government said Friday as troops carrying out heli-borne operations rescued 400 people from the country's costal areas.
Among those rescued were 50 Hindu pilgrims on their way to Sri Mata Mandir in Balochistan, caught on the way by torrential rains and stormy winds. They were shifted to safer places, the defence ministry said.
The authorities have a massive task on hand with an estimated 1.1 million people affected over a sparsely populated but vast territory along the Arabian Sea.
Around 1,000 people marched to the local government office in the flood-hit town of Turbat, saying they had received no relief goods since Cyclone Yemyin had struck. Dawn newspaper said police fired tear gas and bullets in the air to disperse the protest.
Most of Turbat was submerged and people sat on the roofs of their huts and mosques. After days of braving the rain they now face blazing heat as the clouds have cleared. Helicopters bearing aid were again grounded because of continuing downpour in capital Quetta.
Gas supply to Quetta and four other districts of the province was disrupted after a big portion of the gas pipeline was washed away by flash foods in the Bolan River between Dhadar and Gokart.