SHANGLA: At least eight children were buried alive in a landslide in the Kuz Kalay area of Martung tehsil here on Thursday evening.

Locals and rescuers said that the children were playing cricket in an open space along a hill in Kuz Kalay area when the landslide struck, burying them alive.

Later, rescuers recovered the dead bodies and an injured child from the rubble and mounted search for more victims. Three dead bodies and an injured child were shifted to RHC, Martung, till the filing of this report.

The Shangla deputy commissioner, Hassan Abid, said he had sent a Rescue 1122 team and also asked the rural health centre, Martung, and tehsil headquarters hospital, Puran, to declare an emergency.

Locals claimed that there were more children buried under the mass of sand. The victims were stated to be relatives.

They said children from Kuz Kalay regularly played cricket at the spot, which was a sand excavation site from where sand was supplied to other parts of Shangla and Buner.

Shujat Ali, a local resident, said all the children were aged between 7 and 13 years and they were playing cricket just below the sand hill.

Published in Dawn, July 7th, 2023