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15 killed, several injured as dust storm hits Pakistan

06 June 2012 02:04 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. At least 15 people were killed and several others were injured when a violent dust storm lashed several areas of Pakistan on Tuesday, APA reports quoting Xinhua.

According to local Urdu TV channel Geo, the storm hit various parts of the country’s northwest province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and eastern province of Punjab, destroying houses, uprooting trees, signboards and electricity polls.

At least seven people including two women and a kid were killed in provincial capital Peshawar of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and its adjoining areas.

In Punjab, dust storm devoured eight people including four kids. Flight schedules were also disrupted in parts of Punjab due to low visibility.

The winds hit with a speed of up to 90 km per hour in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and 75 km per hour in Punjab, local media quoted meteorological office as reporting.

Officials from meteorological department indicated that the storm is not part of any abrupt change in local weather system adding that the rise and fall in temperature is a part of the weather patterns in summer.

Even if the dust storm calms down and the winds stop blowing within two hours it can still take over 12 hours for the dust to dissipate, the meteorological office said.