At least 30 dead in Pakistan bridge collapse

PESHAWAR: At least 30 people died and many more are missing after a bridge collapsed in northwestern Pakistan as torrential rains battered the area on Saturday, police said.            

"Some 30 bodies have already been recovered" from a river swollen by heavy rains in Mardan town, about 50 kilometres (31 miles) northeast of Peshawar bordering Afghanistan, local police official Javed Khan said.      

The search for those still missing has been hampered by nightfall, he added.          

Local mayor Himayat ullah Mayar earlier said more than 100 people had gathered on the bridge to watch the flooded river when part of it caved in, plunging "almost all of them" into the swirling waters.       

He said army troops had been called out to join the rescue work.            

"Twelve members of my family are missing," a Mardan resident Iqbal Hoti told reporters.             

More than 40 people have died in landslides and floods caused by rain torrents in Pakistan over the past two days.