Dam disaster in Pakistan: Death toll still rising

At least 135 are dead and hundreds missing after heavy rains burst a dam in &to=http:// english.pravda.ru/world/2002/01/16/25768.html' target=_blank>Pakistan and swept victims out to the Arabian sea.

Search and rescue workers continued to comb the waters with fishing nets and pull bodies out of the floodwaters.

The total number dead reached 278 after a week-long onslaught of rains and avalanches, officials said, as CTV News reported.

According to the Aljazeera News, about 3000 troops and 1000 paramilitary forces with helicopters, coast guard boats and C-130 transport planes ferried food, medicine and tents to Pasni and nearby villages, close to where the 150m-long Shakidor Dam burst on Thursday, sweeping people into the Arabian Sea and destroying telephone lines, roads and bridges.

The Pakistan &to=http:// english.pravda.ru/cis/2002/10/01/37531_.html ' target=_blank>Red Crescent was dispatching tents, blankets, tarpaulins and 40 tons of food. Army, navy and coast guards - sometimes using fishing nets - have retrieved 135 bodies from floodwaters in the districts of Pasni, Turbat and Awaran. In all, about 200 people are confirmed to have died in flooding in Baluchistan, Pakistan's biggest and poorest province.