Climate Change Minister Sherry Rehman said a bridge over an important communications route in an isolated region in northern Pakistan collapsed due to flash flooding caused by glacier breaking in a heatwave.

Pakistan is highly vulnerable to climate change and ranks eighth among the countries most threatened by extreme weather events, according to a study by the NGO Germanwatch.

A record heat wave, attributed by experts to climate change, has hit Pakistan. According to forecasts, temperatures could reach 50°C in some places this week.

Minister Rehman reported that last Saturday, a bridge collapsed after a glacial lake drained due to rising temperatures in the village of Hassanabad in the Gilgit Baltistan region.

A video shows the Hassanabad Bridge on the Karakoram Highway (KKH) connecting northern Pakistan to western China, sinking under the influence of the current.

Pakistan has more than 7,000 glaciers on its territory, which is more than any other country in the world outside of its polar lands.