Floods in Pakistan rescuers trying to reach flood victims

Rescuers on Sunday were trying to reach thousands of victims trapped by flooding "unprecedented" in the north-western Pakistan, that killed about 800 people, the government said.

According to the UN, the floods have affected one million people and many communities remain cut off from the world following exceptional floods caused by heavy seasonal monsoon.

"We still have no picture of the situation because of the breakdown in communication, we still struggle to get in touch with our offices in the districts of Nowshera, Swat and Charsada," said Manuel Bessler, Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UN OCHA).

Hundreds of people have perished in the worst hit province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the former Frontier Province Northwest Province (NWFP) which borders the tribal areas along the Afghan border.

"This is the worst flooding in the province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in the history of the country", said Saturday the Information Minister of the Province, Mian Iftikhar Hussain.

In this province alone, in addition to the already identified 800 deaths, 150 people missing, according to the minister.

The regional capital, Peshawar, consisting of three million people, was cut off from outside communication channels and submerged, the source said.

The Pakistani Meteorological Service reported rainfall "unprecedented", with some 312 millimeters of rain fell in 36 hours in the north-west.

The European Commission said Saturday unblocking 30 million euros in humanitarian aid to Pakistan.

The neighboring Afghanistan has been spared flooding and landslides in the east killed at least 65 people and affected thousands of people in recent days, according to the head of the Afghan agency for disaster management Natural.