Miner Killed in Landslide in Diamer’s Deral Valley
One miner was killed when a landslide struck a mining site in the Deral Valley of Diamer district, as the Met Office forecasts five days of rain across Gilgit-Baltistan and the north.
By Frontpage.devAugust 17, 2026 · 8:00 am PKT · 1 min read
(Geo News)
A miner has been killed by a landslide while working at a mining site in the Deral Valley of Diamer district in Gilgit-Baltistan (Dawn).
The timing is the concerning part. The Pakistan Meteorological Department has forecast rain, wind and thundershowers across Gilgit-Baltistan — including Diamer, Astore, Ghizer, Skardu, Hunza, Gilgit, Ghanche and Shigar — from August 18 to 21, with monsoon currents meeting an incoming westerly wave over the upper parts of the country.
That combination is what produces saturated slopes, and Diamer’s terrain along the Karakoram Highway corridor is among the most landslide-prone in the country. Mining and quarrying sites in the district’s valleys are typically cut into those slopes with minimal engineering.
Deaths of labourers at mining sites in Gilgit-Baltistan and Balochistan rarely produce an official inquiry, and the workers involved are often seasonal and unregistered, which means they are also frequently uncounted in the safety statistics that would justify regulating the sites.
Details of the worker’s identity and employer were not immediately available.
