Pakistani troops and rescuers struggled Saturday to help 1.3 million victims of monsoon-triggered floods in the country's southwest, officials said. The death toll from the floods in worst-affected Baluchistan province rose to 17, an official said, with local media reporting that more than 200 people have died across the country after about four days of rains and flooding. At least four people were injured Friday when police fired tear gas and bullets into the air to disperse villagers who ransacked the mayor's office in the flooded southwestern city of Turbat, driven by anger over a lack of relief aid, the Associated Press reported. It was the first such protest since Tuesday, when floods triggered by rains from Cyclone Yemyin began causing havoc in Baluchistan province, which includes the coastal town of Turbat, about 650 kilometers (400 miles) southeast of Quetta. However, Khudah Bakhsh, the relief commissioner for Baluchistan, said Saturday that the situation was now under control in Turbat and that officials were trying their best to get food to victims. «Pakistan's army is using transport planes and helicopters to ferry aid» to the flood-hit areas in Baluchistan, he said, adding the storm and floods had affected 1.3 million people in the province.
