Boxer Amir Khan donates £20K to Pakistan flood victims and urges world to help

Amir Khan tells ITV News he is devastated by Pakistan's plight.

Former World Champion boxer Amir Khan has said he is "very sad" to see the devastating scenes in Pakistan, as he pledged £20,000 to help flood victims.

Pakistan has been ravaged by deadly floods brought about by the monsoon season, that has killed at least 1,130 people and left many thousands more homeless.

More than 33 million - or one in seven Pakistanis - are estimated to have been affected in some way by the disaster.

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British-Pakistani sportsman Khan, who announced his retirement from boxing earlier this year, said he had donated £20,000 to help the country cope in the aftermath of the floods, adding he would "be giving a lot more."

Speaking from Dubai, he told ITV News: "My family being from Pakistan, I spend a lot of time in Pakistan, I have a huge fanbase in Pakistan, I feel that I have to show my support and help."

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"Many times before whenever there's been disasters or when they've needed help, I've always gone out there," he added.

The boxer travelled to Pakistan with the charity Oxfam after it was hit by floods in 2010, but told ITV News the situation facing the impoverished nation today was "a lot worse."

"A third of the country is under water, over a thousand people that they know of have died, and they are finding many more, so you feel for the people there."

A displaced sick boy takes food and refuge after fleeing his flood-hit home in Charsadda, Pakistan, on Tuesday. Credit: AP

United Nations Secretary General António Guterres on Tuesday described the situation facing Pakistan as "a monsoon on steroids," adding it was a "climate catastrophe."

"Schools and health facilities have been destroyed. Livelihoods are shattered, critical infrastructure wiped out, and people's hopes and dreams have washed away," Mr Guterres continued.

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Khan had previously visited Pakistan in 2005 after a devastating earthquake that hit south Asia.

He runs the Amir Khan Foundation, a charity which responds to global emergencies and facilitates developmental projects across the world, and said members of his team are currently on the ground handing out food packages.

"This is a massive disaster for Pakistan," he said, adding his parents were currently in the country on their summer holidays.

Officials say nearly a half million people in Pakistan are crowded into camps after losing their homes to the flooding. Credit: AP

"I've been speaking to them regularly, they say things are really hard, even getting food, getting things from the shops, all the shops are flooded."

"It's very sad to see this because being a British-Pakistani myself, this is where now I need to get that word out to people, to all my friends out there," he added.

"This is to motivate the people out there to please come and show your support because this is a disaster, they've never had a bigger disaster than this."

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