Deaths from floods up to 53 in Pakistan

Fifty-three people have been killed so far after heavy rains triggered flash flooding across Pakistan.

Heavy rains that caused flash floods and collapsed houses in different parts of Pakistan have killed 53 people over the past three days, a senior disaster management official says.

Civil and military authorities have launched rescue and relief efforts to deal with the crisis, said Brigadier Kamran Zia, a member of the National Disaster Management Authority.

Deaths have spanned the entire country, Zia said on Monday. Twelve people were killed in the semiautonomous tribal region in the northwest, eight in neighbouring Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, and three in the Pakistan-held part of the disputed Kashmir region.

Twelve people also died in central Punjab province, 10 in southwestern Baluchistan, and eight in southern Sindh.

Flooding was especially bad in Pakistan's largest city, Karachi, because of the southern city's faulty drainage system, said Zia.

The same storm system hit Afghanistan, killing at least 58 people.