(Agencies) :  At least 28 people, including women and children, died after heavy rains battered parts of Pakistan on Saturday, local media reported.

Meanwhile, The National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) on Sunday urged people to stay away from shorelines as Cyclone Biparjoy, which is heading towards the coastal areas of Pakistan and India, lay at a distance of about 760 kilometres south of Karachi.

At least 145 others were also injured due to the rains in some parts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab provinces, according to Geo News broadcaster.

At least 69 houses were also partially damaged by the rain, it added.

Earlier, Bilal Faizi, a spokesman for emergency rescue service Rescue 1122, told Anadolu over the phone that 20 people died and over 140 others were wounded in various parts of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. He added that the death toll could rise.

“Most casualties were caused by the collapse of walls and roofs in these areas,” he told the journalists.

In Punjab, there were reports of four deaths from rain-related incidents. The deaths occurred in Khushab and Hafizabad districts, the Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA) said in a statement.

K-P’s southern districts, including Bannu, Lakki Marwat and Karak, bore the brunt of powerful storms that swept away homes, uprooted trees and electricity pylons and left hundreds of people stranded, the officials said.

Streets in K-P are submerged due to heavy downpour and overflowing of nullahs whereas power supply has been disconnected in several parts of the cities.

Meanwhile, according to the PDMA, four people were killed in rain-related incidents in different districts of Punjab.

Three girls died after the wall of their house collapsed in Khushab district whereas a man was killed in Hafizabad in a similar incident.

At least 10 people were injured and several trees were uprooted in Punjab.

Meanwhile, the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) on Sunday urged people to stay away from shorelines as Cyclone Biparjoy, which is heading towards the coastal areas of Pakistan and India, lay at a distance of about 760 kilometres south of Karachi.

According to state-run Radio Pakistan, the NDMA also called on people to follow local authorities’ guidance in any emergency situation. Over the past few days, the Karachi commissioner has banned entry to the beaches in Karachi, as well as fishing, sailing, swimming, and bathing at seas within the territorial limit of Karachi owing to the threat from today till the end of the storm.

It came as the Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD) in its daily forecast located the cyclone near latitude 18.1°N and longitude 67.5°E, and said the system is “likely to keep tracking further in the north-northeast direction during next 24 hours”.

The PMD added that the cyclone will then recurve northeastward on June 14 and cross between Keti Bandar (southeast Sindh) and the Indian Gujrat coast. The forecast noted that “dust-raising/gusty winds are expected in central/southern districts of the country” on Sunday and Monday afternoon.

[Map of Pakistan from CIA Factbook/Public Domain]