Last dead body from Torkham landslide debris recovered

The last dead body buried under the debris of landslide at Torkham was recovered and handed over to the heirs, reported 24NewsHD TV channel on Sunday.

Pakistan Army, Frontier Corp, Civil Defence, Rescue 1122 and locals of the area participated in the rescue operation that lasted for five days.

During the operation, 12 injured people were rescued while 25 trailers and eight dead bodies buried under the debris were recovered.

All the deceased and injured people belonged to Afghanistan. Apart from Pakistan, three 100-tonne cranes were also ordered from Afghanistan for the operation.

The KP governor, caretaker chief minister, former MPAs and Shaheen Shah Afridi also visited the site of the accident.

Earlier, the death toll from a massive landslide earlier this week that buried a fleet of trucks waiting to cross from Pakistan into Afghanistan has risen to eight, officials had said Saturday.

Tuesday's pre-dawn landslide hit the Torkham border post, the busiest trade and transit point between the two countries, as more than 100 trucks were waiting to cross.

"So far we have recovered seven dead bodies," said Pakistani rescue services spokesperson Bilal Faizi, adding that "an operation is ongoing to recover an eighth body" from the debris.

A total of 20 trucks were buried in the accident in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, with rescue services initially reporting two deaths.

The brunt of the slide hit around 120 metres (130 yards) from the main border crossing, causing fires as drivers were cooking meals on gas hobs ahead of fasting during the holy month of Ramadan.

"Our workers are close to the eighth dead body, they can see it," said Faizi. "We had removed 60 percent of the debris, but yesterday another landslide occurred in the same area so the rescue operation was delayed."

District deputy commissioner Abdul Nasir Khan confirmed the death toll and said road traffic had resumed on Thursday.

The cause of the landslide was not clear in the immediate aftermath, but one official said Tuesday that heavy machinery had been in use for months on an expansion project in the hills surrounding the border post.

Torrential overnight rain may also have contributed, the official said.

Reporter: Jahanzeb Afridi