JALALPUR PIRWALA, Pakistan (AP) — Rescuers backed by troops evacuated more than 25,000 people from a city in Pakistan’s eastern Punjab province overnight as rising rivers threatened to flood the region, officials said Monday.
Irfan Ali Kathia, director general of the Punjab Disaster Management Authority, said the rescue operation in Jalalpur Pirwala began on an emergency basis late Sunday and continued through the night. By Monday morning, about 25,000 residents from high-risk neighborhoods had been moved to safer areas.
The latest evacuations from Jalalpur Pirwala came two days after a rescue boat capsized in floodwaters on the city’s outskirts, killing five people. Fifteen others were rescued after the boat overturned Saturday, local officials said.
Ghulam Shabir, a 50-year-old constr