Rebel News - Independent News and Analysis

Pakistan's Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani has expressed concerns over food security due to the long lasting damage to the nation's agriculture.

He said floods have ravaged Pakistan's economy, and called the social impact of the disaster "serious."

Officials in Pakistan have ordered thousands of residents in a number of towns in southern parts of the country to evacuate as floodwaters submerge new areas.

Floodwaters are currently threatening the Pakistani towns of Jati and Choohar Jamali, forcing more than 100,000 people to flee their homes.

The Chilean mine engineers have started the lengthy process of digging a rescue route to pull out the 33 miners trapped underground for more than three weeks.

On Monday, the engineers used a huge drilling machine to bore a pilot hole that will be served as a guide in drilling the shaft.

Floodwaters have submerged a town in Pakistan's southern province of Sindh while a nearby city is spared from flooding, officials say.

Some 250,000 people have left the town of Sujawal.

Chilean miners, who have been trapped deep underground for more than three weeks, have had their first telephone contact with their families.

The connection was made possible through a small emergency shaft drilled to their location.

Contaminated water has affected the life and health of flood-hit Pakistanis, claiming the lives of six more people, including one child, in the Upper Dir district.

At least six people have died in a gastroenteritis outbreak in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, previously known as the Northwest Frontier Province, bringing the death toll from water-borne diseases to more than 80.

Contaminated water has affected the life and health of flood-hit Pakistanis, claiming the lives of six more people, including one child, in the Upper Dir district.

At least six people have died in a gastroenteritis outbreak in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, previously known as the Northwest Frontier Province, bringing the death toll from water-borne diseases to more than 80.

Chilean miners move to a drier and cooler site deeper inside the San Jose gold and copper mine, where they were trapped since a cave-in 24 days ago, officials says.

Some of the 33 trapped Chilean miners have developed fungal infections and body sores from the hot, dank conditions in the part of the mine where they took refuge after an August 5 cave-in blocked their exit from the mine, AFP reports.

Iranian ambassador to Pakistan says the Islamic Republic is readiness to transit the relief aid of regional countries to the flood-hit nation by land.

Mashallah Shakeri said on Sunday that Pakistan currently needs tents, water pumps, water filtering equipment, drinking water, medicine and canned food.

Month-long floods in Pakistan continue to devastate more areas near the Indus River in the worst-hit area of southern Sindh Province.

Floodwaters have submerged Sajwal city and dozens of villages in the region.