The deaths among a wedding party whose bus was swept away by flash floods in Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Agency on Saturday, have risen to 26, an official said on Sunday morning. As many as 11 more bodies were recovered from a ravine, Xinhua news agency quoted an official as saying. At least 26 bodies and three injured have been retrieved so far while one person is still missing, the official said. The accident occurred on Saturday morning when a vehicle carrying 30 wedding guests was washed off a mountainous road and plunged into a gorge in remote Tabai area of the Khyber Agency, Pakistan's northwest tribal region bordering Afghanistan. The incident happened while the groom and his family were travelling from Bara to Bazaar Zakha Khel area of the region when the when the driver lost control of the bus due to flash floods. The injured were shifted to a hospital in Landi Kotal area. Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif expressed grief and sorrow over the loss of lives in the accident. PM Sharif also directed that effective relief be rendered and medical treatment given to the survivors. At least 20 persons were killed in separate incidents of roof collapse and flash floods triggered by heavy rain in the country over the past one week.
