Scores killed as heavy snow, avalanches hit Afghanistan and Pakistan
Nearly 100 people die in Afghanistan and neighbouring Pakistan after heavy snow and avalanches hit region over the weekend
Dozens of people in Afghanistan and Pakistan were killed after heavy snow and avalanches hit over the weekend.
In Afghanistan nearly 100 died in the past three days – including 16 in overnight avalanches just north of the capital Kabul. Dozens more were missing on Sunday after an avalanche buried a village in Nuristan, provincial governor Hafiz Abdul Qayum said.
At least five other deaths from collapsed roofs were reported elsewhere in Nuristan.
In the northern province of Badakhshan, over the past two days as many as 19 people were killed and 17 injured by avalanches, collapsed roofs and road accidents, said Naweed Frotan, a spokesman for the provincial governor.
The government was working to reach at least 12 districts in Badakhshan that had been completely cut off, he said.
Heavy snow also blanketed the Afghan capital of Kabul, where the government closed its offices on Sunday.
In neighbouring Pakistan, 13 people were killed in an avalanche in northern Pakistan, nine of them in the town of Chitral, with many believed to still be trapped in collapsed houses.
he avalanche struck a village of 25 houses, but evacuation operations were delayed by the weather, Chitral Deputy Commissioner Shahab Hameed Yousafzai.
"There is no way to rush the injured persons to Chitral hospital because all roads in the valley have been blocked due to heavy snowfall," he said.
In a separate incident in the Chitral region, a government rescue worker was killed when an avalanche struck a check post near the Pakistan-Afghanistan border, the commanding officer told Reuters.
The main international airport in Kabul has been closed because of snow and ice on the runway.
The snow caused havoc on major roads, including the Kabul-Kandahar Highway, where police and soldiers rescued some 250 vehicles trapped by the storm.
The Salang pass north of Kabul was also closed under as much as 2.5m of snow, local police chief Rajab Salangi said, according to Reuters news agency.
