Death of a delta: Pakistan's Indus sinks and shrinks

In this aerial photograph taken on June 25, 2025, abandoned houses are pictured in one of the villages of Kharo Chan town, in the Indus delta, south of Pakistan. [AFP]

Salt crusts crackle underfoot as Habibullah Khatti walks to his mother's grave to say a final goodbye before he abandons his parched island village on Pakistan's Indus delta.

Seawater intrusion into the delta, where the Indus River meets the Arabian Sea in the south of the country, has triggered the collapse of farming and fishing communities.