LAHORE, Pakistan (Reuters) -At least nine people died when a rescue boat capsized during flood relief efforts in Pakistan, authorities said on Friday.
The incident took place in a village near the historic city of Multan in eastern Punjab province on Thursday, a statement from the Punjab Disaster Management Authority said.
It said the boat had rescued 24 people from flooded villages when it overturned, adding that the remaining 15 were safely removed from the water.
Rescue officials say villagers have been refusing to leave their homes in some parts of rural Pakistan, especially without their cows, goats and other animals, one of their main sources of income, which often leads to forced evacuations.
The rescue work in the region is “tough because people are not cooperating”, the authority said.
Floods triggered by this year’s intense monsoon rains and swollen rivers have killed 946 people, including 97 in the province, in Pakistan since late June, and inundated large swaths of crops.
The Punjab province, home to half of the country’s 240 million population, is considered Pakistan’s breadbasket.
Authorities say the floods have submerged over 4,500 villages, affecting more than 4.4 million people in the province since late August. At least 2.4 million people have so far been evacuated, they say.
(Reporting by Mubasher Bukhari in Lahore; Writing by Asif Shahzad, Editing by William Maclean)
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