BAR DALORI (Pakistan) — In the middle of the night, by the glow of their mobile phones, rescuers and villagers dug through the concrete remains of flattened houses after massive rocks crashed down on a remote Pakistani village following a cloudburst.

Using hammers, shovels, and in many cases their bare hands to clear the rubble and open blocked pathways, they searched through the debris in darkness, with no electricity in the area.

In just minutes, a torrent of water and rocks swept down on the village of Dalori yesterday, destroying at least 15 houses, damaging several others and killing nine people.

Around 20 villagers are still trapped under the debris. “A huge bang came from the top of the mountain, and then dark smoke billowed into the sky,” Lal Khan, a 46-year-old local labourer, told AFP.

“A massive surge of water gushed down with the sliding mountain,” he added.

The cloudburst above Dalori came a few days into heavy monsoon rains that have already killed more than 350 people across mountainous Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, along the northwest border with Afghanistan.

Torrential rains in northern Pakistan since Thursday have caused flooding and landslides that have swept away entire villages, with around 200 people still missing.

Authorities have warned of fresh flash floods in the coming days.

Khan recalled seeing the hand of his neighbour sticking out of the rubble, where rescuers later retrieved her body along with those of her four children.

“We are absolutely helpless. We don’t have the means to tackle this calamity that nature has sent upon us,” Khan added.