Islamabad: At least 30 Pakistani tribal people, who were displaced during a military operation in 2014 and fled across the border, died in the powerful earthquake that hit a rural, mountainous region of eastern Afghanistan, a media report said on Thursday. The victims belonging to the Madakhel tribe of North Waziristan district were killed in the 6.1 magnitude quake that killed over 1,000 people and left 1,500 more wounded in Afghanistan on Wednesday.
The bodies of 30 people would be shifted to their native areas after the Pakistani authorities temporarily opened the Pak-Afghan border at Alwar Mandi, the Dawn newspaper reported. Arrangements have also been made at the Ghulam Khan border for the transportation of the injured who, according to military sources in Miranshah, would be airlifted to special medical camps being set up in the area, the report said.
The report quoting officials said that besides shifting the bodies and helping with the treatment of the injured, the ration was also being provided to the quake-hit people. Separately, the tremor also resulted in the collapse of a check-post in the Datakhel area of North Waziristan, claiming the life of one soldier and leaving at least two others injured.