Southern Pakistani city spared as flood waters begin to recede

A TORRENT of water threatening to deluge a city in flood-hit Pakistan has begun to recede, officials said yesterday, as emergency workers plugged a breach in defences against the swollen Indus river.

Pakistani troops and workers were on a “war footing” over the weekend, battling to save the southern city of Thatta after most of the 300,000 population fled the advancing waters.

“The breach near Thatta has been half-plugged and fortunately the flood has also changed its course and is moving away from the city and populated areas,” senior city official Hadi Bakhsh Kalhoro said. “The water is flowing into the sea and its level is receding, and many people are returning to their homes.”