‘Second life’: helicopters rescue the stranded from Pakistan valleys

Saidu Sharif, Pakistan (AFP):

Army and government helicopter missions are rescuing hundreds of panicked tourists and locals stranded in the Swat valley of Pakistan after the unrelenting floods of the past week.

“It feels like I have got a second life,” said tourist Yasmin Akram, a diabetic who was airlifted to Saidu Sharif’s airfield from the Kalam valley with her 12-year-old daughter and husband.

Unprecedented rain in the Swat Valley turned rivers into raging torrents that washed away roads and bridges, cutting off tourists and residents from nearby towns, even as the water receded.

Junaid Khan, the deputy commissioner for Swat, told AFP that stricken tourists have made up the majority of evacuations.

Government officials and doctors have been airlifted into the valleys to identify those most in need of rescue. Locals are willing to stay behind if food and medical supplies are guaranteed, said Khan.

Thousands of food aid packages have already been delivered –- some dropped from the back of a helicopter when crowds of people reaching for the aircraft made it impossible to land.

It could be days before roads leading to the mountains and valleys are repaired.

So far 21 deaths have been reported in the area’s valleys –- mostly as a result of collapsed houses — but a handful of people were washed away by floods.