At least 189 people were killed in Pakistan’s northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province and eight in Gilgit-Baltistan over the past 24 hours as rains and floods triggered multiple incidents, while a government helicopter carrying relief goods crashed in bad weather, killing five crew members, officials said on Friday. Pakistan, which contributes less than 1 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions, is among the countries most vulnerable to climate change. Nationwide deaths since this year’s monsoon season began in late June have crossed 460, according to an Arab News tally, evoking memories of 2022 when catastrophic monsoon rains and glacial melt submerged a third of the country, killing more than 1,700 people and causing over $30 billion in damages. Scientists say rising temperatures are making South Asia’s monsoon rains more erratic and intense, increasing the risk of flash floods and landslides in mountainous regions like Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Gilgit-Baltistan. “In the last 24 hours, 189 people have died and 21 have been injured in different incidents caused by heavy rains and flash floods,” the Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA) said in its preliminary report about the situation in KP province. “Among the dead are 163 men, 14 women and 12 children, while the injured include 18 men, two women and one child.”

Full report : Rains, floods kill nearly 200 in northern Pakistan as relief helicopter crash leaves five dead.