By Islamuddin Sajid

ISLAMABAD (AA) - Another 19 people, including nine children, lost their lives in rain and flood-related mishaps across Pakistan in the past 24 hours, bringing the overall grim tally to over 1,200, according to official statistics released on Friday.

Twelve deaths were reported in southern Sindh, four in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and three in Balochistan provinces.

A total of 1,208 people have died, including 416 children, and 6,082 have been injured since mid-June, when the country was hit hard by heavy rains and subsequent flooding, said the country's National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA).

Torrential rainfall and flooding have affected over 33 million people in 80 districts across the country, the NDMA said.

Constant rains and raging floods have already destroyed a large chunk of infrastructure and agricultural lands across the country, including tens of thousands of houses, roads, and bridges, as well as washing away nearly a million animals.

According to the NDMA, 472,313 people have been shifted to shelter camps, and 121,630 people have been evacuated from most affected areas.

The heavy floods also caused damage to over 1.17 million homes, with 436,307 completely destroyed. 733,488 animals were also killed.

Meanwhile, humanitarian assistance to Pakistan in the aftermath of the devastating floods has continued.

Another Turkish flight carrying relief supplies landed at Karachi's Jinnah International Airport on Thursday night.

This is the 10th of such flights from Türkiye carrying tents, food parcels, baby food, blankets and other relief goods.

"Pakistan is thankful to the government and people of Türkiye for this valuable support in times of unprecedented catastrophe," the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

The country has also received humanitarian assistance from the UAE, Qatar and Uzbekistan.

Turkish Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu and Minister of Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change Murat Kurum also arrived in Islamabad on Friday morning to meet with their counterparts.

Soylu and Kurum were welcomed by Pakistani Federal Ministers Rana Sanaullah, Sherry Rehman, Ahsan Iqbal, and Türkiye Ambassador to Pakistan Dr Mehmet Pacaci, according to the Turkish Embassy in Islamabad.