Pakistan has launched a relief operation for about 20,000 people stricken by the heaviest rains in 16 years as the toll from a burst dam reached 70, provincial officials said.

Authorities rushed in thousands of troops to help with rescue operations in the remote southwestern province of Baluchistan.

Villages near the coastal town of Pasni bore the brunt of the destruction caused when the Shadikor dam burst, sweeping away many people and houses.

Provincial minister Sher Jan Baluch said the toll from the disaster had risen to 70 after 10 people died of their injuries. Some reports said hundreds were still missing, but officials said there were no reliable estimates.

Pasni is about 800km south of the provincial capital, Quetta. More than 40 people have been killed in other rain-affected parts of the province.

Villages under water

Officials said five villages, home to about 7000 people, had been submerged by the waters pouring from the breach in the dam, a 35-metre-high embankment 300 metres long constructed two years ago.

"Relief work is in full swing, but it will take some time to assess the exact extent of the damage," Baluch said. Officials say 6000 army, paramilitary and navy troops had been mobilised.

One military official in Quetta said two army transport planes were flying in later on Saturday carrying food, blankets, tents and other emergency supplies.

He said 70 trucks carrying relief assistance had also been dispatched to the affected areas.

Three bridges along the main coastal highway had been washed away, and helicopters were flying over flooded areas to help rescue efforts.

Floods, avalanches

Elsewhere in Pakistan, newspaper reports said 97 people had been killed and many were missing after torrential rains and heavy snowfall in the North West Frontier Province, bordering Afghanistan.

Most of the deaths were due to avalanches, flash floods or roof collapses. There was no word on the fate of about 30 soldiers caught in an avalanche in the province's remote Teerah valley on Thursday.

The Northern Areas, where the Himalaya, Karakoram and Hindu Kush mountain ranges meet, have been cut off, with roads buried under several feet of snow and the Chitral valley particularly badly affected.

The Karakoram Highway, linking Pakistan and China, has been blocked, and flights in and out of the region have been suspended since 3 February.

PHOTO CAPTION

Pakistani rescue workers survey a swept away bridge after flash floods at Hingole in southern Baluchistan province, 250 km from Karachi February 11, 2005. (REUTERS)