Avalanches kill at least 51 people in Afghanistan and Pakistan

Parts of Afghanistan and Pakistan struggled to dig out from heavy snow on Sunday, with dozens of people reported killed and some major highways closed.
Heavy snow also blanketed the Afghan capital of Kabul, where the government closed its offices.
An Afghan official said at least 38 people have been killed in the past three days by avalanches caused by heavy snow in different parts of the country.
Omer Mohammadi, spokesman for the Afghan state minister for disaster management and humanitarian affairs, said Sunday that more than 20 others have been injured.
Many of the casualties were reported in Afghanistan’s northern province of Badakhshan, where 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.
Mohammadi said that 22 of Afghanistan’s 34 provinces have experienced heavy snow. Approximately 20 homes have been destroyed by avalanches and nearly 50 others heavily damaged.
On Sunday, the government declared a public holiday due to the heavy snowfall.
The government was working to reach at least 12 districts in Badakhshan that had been completely cut off, Frotan said.
On the other side of the border, at least 13 people have been killed in an avalanche that buried five homes following heavy snowfall in the country’s north.
Nizamud Shah, the commander of Chitral Scouts force, said the avalanche struck the town of Chitral late Saturday. He said rescuers have retrieved 13 bodies and efforts are underway to reach any survivors.
Shah said Sunday several people are still missing and that most of the areas in Chitral are covered in snow.
The avalanche struck a small village of 25 houses, but evacuation operations were delayed by the weather, said 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 snow wreaked havoc on major roads in Afghanistan, including the Kabul-Kandahar Highway, where police and soldiers had to rescue around 250 cars and buses trapped by the storm, said Jawid Salangi, a spokesman for Ghazni province, where as much as two meters of new snow was reported.
“Some people were carried to local residents’ houses and some to military and police checkpoints,” he said, noting that officials expected the road to reopen quickly. “Fortunately we arrived on time and there is not a single causality.”
The Salang pass north of Kabul was also closed under as much as two and a half meters of snow, according to police general Rajab Salangi, who oversees the area.
“It will remain blocked until the snow is cleared from the main road, facilities are provided and it is safe to travel,” he said.

Source : Arab News