Pakistan Dam Breaks, Dozens Dead

At least 43 people were killed and more than 400 missing in a remote area of southwestern Pakistan after heavy rains caused a large dam to burst, sweeping villagers into the Arabian Sea, officials said Friday.

The 485-foot-long Shakidor Dam burst late Thursday near Pasni, a remote village in Baluchistan province. Between 400 and 500 people were still unaccounted for, provincial Cabinet minister Sher Jan Baluch told The Associated Press.

Most of the bodies were recovered by Coast Guard patrols sweeping the coast with fishing nets, Baluch said.

"The army has started rescue operations to try to save as many lives as possible," Baluch said. He said he feared some of the missing may also have been swept into the sea, though others might be taking shelter in homes, nearby mountains or other surrounding areas.

More than 1,200 villagers have already been pulled alive from the floodwaters by troops, helicopters and boats sent to the area, said Mudasser Butt, an army spokesman in Quetta.

Maj. Gen. Shaukat Sultan, the top spokesman for President Gen. Pervez Musharraf, refused to speculate on how high the death toll could climb. Witnesses described seeing trucks and tankers swept out to sea.

"I can only say that troops have started the rescue work ... and they are trying to save the lives of people," Sultan said.

The Shakidor dam was built in 2003 to help with irrigation in the area, but was unable to cope with more than a week of heavy rains. Telephone lines, roads and eight bridges in the area were also damaged, Butt said.

He said the troops diverted the flow of floodwaters to save other towns located near Pasni, about 400 miles south of Quetta, the capital of Baluchistan province.

Troops and local authorities were also supplying food, medicine and tents to the affected people in Pasni and elsewhere, he said. Some 3,000 troops and paramilitary forces are taking parts in the rescue operation. Personnel from the Pakistan Navy had also reached the affected areas to join the rescue work.

Pakistan has been hit by more than a week of rain and snow, which in some parts of the country were the heaviest in seven years, said Qamar-uz Zaman Chaudhry, the head of the nation's meteorological department. He said more severe weather was expected in the next two days.

Meanwhile, at least two people were killed elsewhere in Baluchistan when floodwaters overturned their bus early Friday, officials said. Eighteen other people were reported missing in the accident.

At least 30 soldiers were also missing after an avalanche buried their vehicles on a mountain road in northwestern Pakistan early Friday, Pakistan's private Geo television reported. It gave no other details.

An army official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, confirmed the incident but said there was no word on the fate of the soldiers. "We have lost contact with them, and efforts are under way to trace and rescue them."

The soldiers were on their way to Terrah, a tribal region in North West Frontier Province, when the incident occurred. He had no other details and Sultan was not immediately available for comment.

In the past week, about 50 people have died in different parts of Pakistan, including the country's mountainous north, due to the winter weather. Some homes collapsed because of heavy rains and snow fall, according to local media reports and government officials.

By Naseer Kakar