When the news of flash floods hit Beshantri village in Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, the local imam of the mosque, Maulana Abdul Samad, ordered his family to evacuate their homes like other villagers.
He was offering namaz at the time. When he returned home after a while, he found that his house and many others had been completely destroyed by the flash flood waters.
According to Pakistani officials, the death toll from rain and floods in different districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province has crossed 300 in the last 48 hours.
The Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA) there said that 307 people have been killed and 23 injured so far.
According to the latest report from the PDMA, 279 men, 15 women and 13 children are among the dead. Among the injured are 17 men, four women and two children.
The report said that a total of 74 houses have been damaged so far due to heavy rains and flash floods, of which 63 were partially and 11 were completely destroyed.
Such accidents have occurred in various districts of the province such as Swat, Buner, Bajaur, Torghar, Mansehra, Shangla and Batgram.
Five members of Abdul Samad's family were inside when the entire house was swept away in the flood. They are still missing. No one knows about them.
At that time, Pir Baba Saheb Upazila Officer or Tehsil Nazim Ashfaq Ahmed was in Islamabad.
When he received news from his house that a huge flood could strike, he immediately
When he tried to contact his family on the phone within a few minutes, no one was found. Even no one in the entire village could be reached on the phone.
When he reached his village in this worrying situation, a doomsday scene was seen everywhere. The entire village was destroyed, houses were destroyed, the injured were lying here and there.
No one’s home was safe, including his. There was debris everywhere.
Those who escaped the flood were seriously injured.
There were 14 people in Ashfaq Ahmed’s house at the time. Four of them were found dead, while 10 are still missing.
Two members of a family survived by climbing trees during the flood, while nine members of their family are missing.
According to the emergency rescue department in Buner, the worst-hit district in the province, Beshantri village was one of the worst-hit areas.
There was no one there to arrange funerals and burials. People from neighboring villages had to help with these tasks.
Among the helpers were Noor Islam, a businessman from Buner, and Muhammad Islam, who had come to his home from abroad on vacation. They came forward to help the affected villagers.
Noor Islam said he reached Beshantri village at around 1 pm. Not a single house was intact there at that time.
He said, "By evening, I attended several funerals with my friends and locals. I don't even remember the number, although I myself helped dig six graves."
He added, "I got the news of the flood at 11 am. Immediately, announcements were made in the area's mosques. Then I walked with other people towards Beshantri village."
Noor Islam added, "Beshantri village is four to five kilometers away from Pir Baba Saheb Sadar Upazila, but the road was blocked due to flash floods. There were signs of destruction everywhere. As a result, it took us 1 pm to reach the affected area. Many other people had arrived there before us who were busy with relief work.
The scene there was horrific. I saw the injured lying scattered on the ground. Those who reached there were picking up the injured and taking them to the hospital, while many were recovering bodies from the rubble."
Noor Islam personally knew Maulana Abdul Samad, the imam of the mosque in Beshantri village.
He told me that when the floodwaters came, the water was not very high. He had instructed his family members to leave with their essentials like everyone else in the area. He would come back after completing his namaz.
Noor Islam added that he had helped dig the graves of the family members of Pir Baba Sahib, a former upazila officer or tehsil nazim, Pir Baba Ashfaq Ahmed. Ashfaq Ahmed was in Islamabad at the time of the accident. Ten members of his family are still missing.
He said that almost all the houses in the village were damaged, and there were very few houses where no one from the family was missing. Apparently, most of the missing were women and children.
According to the Buner Emergency Rescue Department, many people have complained about the disappearance of their family members, most of whom are women and children. Many people are still unable to find their family members.
According to the rescue department, the total population of Beshantri village in Buner is about 1,000.
Muhammad Islam said he reached there at 2:30 pm. The entire village was deserted, like a city of death. The scene was horrific and heartbreaking.
All the houses there had been destroyed and there was no suitable place to lay the bodies recovered from the rubble.
Hundreds of people came forward to help the affected people and everyone was busy recovering the bodies and digging graves till evening.
Muhammad Islam also said that only two children from the family of one of his relatives survived because they were trapped in a tree during the flood.
