Rescue teams fight to reach thousands trapped by Pakistan floods

Rescue teams were today battling to reach tens of thousands of people cut off by flooding in northern Pakistan as the death toll from the disaster rose to more than 1,400.

As many as 27,000 people could be trapped after the worst floods for 80 years wreaked devastation. Relief workers warned that one of the biggest dangers was the risk of cholera, diarrhoea and other waterborne diseases.

Angry flood victims attacked relief trucks and clashed with police as anger about the government's inability to respond boiled over in some areas.

The UN said that three million people had been affected, with a million children needing emergency aid.

In the Kot Addu district of southern Punjab, about 3,000 people were marooned after floodwater breached a bank, forcing the army to stage an evacuation using boats and helicopters.

Fateh Mohammad told how he and his family had fled, saying: "We just ran away with our children, leaving everything. All our possessions are drowned in the water. We have nothing."

British charities, including Merlin, the medical relief organisation, which is delivering aid by helicopter to some of the worst affected areas, and Save the Children joined Pakistani troops in delivering food, medicine and tents. The US is providing $10 million in aid and equipment.

But many flood victims were unhappy. About 300 people blocked a major road in the hard-hit Nowshera district to protest at receiving little or no aid.