Avalanches triggered by warm weather following heavy snowfall have killed at least seven people in Tajikistan's mountainous south.

A spokeswoman for Tajikistan's Emergencies Committee, Umeda Yusufova, told RFE/RL on January 30 that the death toll may rise as rescue teams continue working on the Dushanbe-Khujand highway and in the Gorno-Badakhshan region, where more than 40 major avalanches were registered over the weekend.

Officials said some 500 people stranded in their cars after avalanches blocked the highway were rescued on January 28.

Mountains cover 93 percent of the Central Asian nation, and avalanches and mudslides kill dozens of people every year. </s> Authorities in Tajikistan said Monday that at least seven people were killed in a series of avalanches that hit the mountainous Central Asian country over the weekend.

Avalanches killed at least five people on a highway linking the capital Dushanbe with Khujand, Tajikistan's second largest city, the emergency services committee said.

Two more died in avalanches in the remote Pamir region in the country's east, the committee said.

Authorities said a rescue operation was ongoing and the casualty toll could continue to rise.

A spokesperson for the committee told AFP around 800 people had been evacuated Sunday following the avalanches.

Mountainous and poverty-struck Tajikistan is prone to natural disasters including avalanches, landslides and earthquakes.

In February 2015, a single avalanche claimed six lives in the east of the country. </s> At least 84 reported dead in avalanches, house collapses across eastern Afghanistan and northwestern Pakistan.

Scores of people have been killed in Afghanistan and Pakistan by heavy snow and avalanches that hit mountainous areas in the region, officials said.

In eastern Afghanistan, at least 50 people were killed and dozens more remain missing after an avalanche buried a village in Nuristan province, provincial governor Hafiz Abdul Qayum said, leaving many homeless.

"Most affected are women and children," he said, adding that many houses collapsed, killing at least five people and leaving many families without shelter.

"The area is completely blocked because of snow so it is very difficult for us to send support, but we are trying our best."

Qayum said local rescue operations continued at the site, adding the death toll might increase.

In the northern Afghan province of Badakhshan, at least 19 people were killed and 17 injured in avalanches, collapsed roofs and road accidents over the last two days, Naweed Frotan, a government spokesperson, said.

The government was still struggling to reach at least 12 districts in Badakhshan province that had been completely cut off, Qayum said.

Heavy snow also blanketed the Afghan capital Kabul on Sunday, forcing government offices to close across the city.

In neighbouring Pakistan, at least nine people, including at least three children, were killed early on Sunday morning when an avalanche in the northwestern Chitral district destroyed 22 houses, the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) said in a statement.

Three people were injured in avalanche, with one in critical condition, the statement said.

"Rescue operations at the site have finished for now," Gul Hammad Farooqi, a local journalist in Chitral, said.

"They were carried out by the local population, because no one was able to reach the site, even by helicopter."

No more residents of the village were currently being reported missing, Farooqi said, citing senior local officials.

Roads to the remote Shershal village, where the avalanche occurred, remained blocked due to the snowfall, and rescue crews were forced to rush to the surrounding areas by helicopter, the NDMA said.

In a separate incident in the Chitral region, a paramilitary soldier was killed and six others were injured when their post collapsed under an avalanche in the Pisotan area, Pakistan's military said in a statement.

The surviving soldiers had been rescued, the statement said.

Parts of the Chitral valley received more than five feet of snow in the previous 24 hours, Pakistan’s Meteorological Department said in a statement on Sunday, with scattered snowfall forecast for Monday.

The snow wreaked havoc on major roads in Afghanistan, including the main Kabul-Kandahar highway, where police and soldiers rescued passengers in about 250 vehicles trapped by the storm, said Jawed Salangi, a spokesman for Ghazni province.

The Salang pass, north of Kabul, was also closed under as much as two and a half metres of snow, officials said.

In Pakistan, all inter-district roads in Chitral were closed, while a major highway linking Chitral to the Dir district, and another linking parts of the upper Swat valley were only open to traffic under restrictions, NDMA said. </s> The spokeswoman of the country’s Committee for Emergency Situations said that at least seven people were killed in Tajikistan after a series of avalanches hit the Central Asian republic.

DUSHANBE (Sputnik) – At least seven people were killed in Tajikistan after a series of avalanches hit the Central Asian republic on Sunday and Monday, the spokeswoman of the country’s Committee for Emergency Situations (CoES) told Sputnik Monday.

“[A total of] five people were killed by the avalanches that hit the Dushanbe-Khujand route and two more on the Khorog-Murghab roads,” Umeda Yusupova said. </s> Heavy snow and avalanches have killed more than 106 people and injured dozens in Afghanistan.

In the deadliest incident, 53 people died in one village after an avalanche in Nuristan, a North-Eastern Afghan province on the Pakistan border.

Thirteen people were also killed in an avalanche in Northern Pakistan, nine of them in the town of Chitral.

Dozens of houses have been destroyed and people were reported to have frozen to death, trapped in cars.

Afghanistan’s minister of State Natural Disasters, Wais Ahmad Barmak, confirmed the number of dead to BBC Afghan. There were also avalanches to the North of the Afghan capital, Kabul.

“Avalanches have buried two entire villages,” a spokesman for the ministry said.

The neighbouring mountainous province of Badakhshan was also badly hit by snow storms.

Rescuers are experiencing difficulty reaching trapped people because of bad weather and snow-blocked roads.

Provincial Council member Khalilullah Ghayor told BBC Afghan that two helicopters will be deployed to the area to look for survivors and deliver aid.

The main international airport in Kabul has also been closed due to snow and ice on the runway.

On the Kabul-Kandahar highway, police and soldiers rescued some 250 vehicles that were trapped.

At least two stranded drivers have frozen to death while dozens are marooned there without food.

Officials are warning of more avalanches as snow storms are continuing. </s> Image copyright EPA Image caption Rescue workers are trying to reach the avalanche-hit areas of Chitral, Pakistan

Heavy snow and avalanches have killed more than 106 people and injured dozens in Afghanistan.

In the deadliest incident, 53 people died in one village after an avalanche in Nuristan, a north-eastern Afghan province on the Pakistan border.

Thirteen people were also killed in an avalanche in northern Pakistan, nine of them in the town of Chitral.

Dozens of houses have been destroyed and people were reported to have frozen to death, trapped in cars.

Afghanistan's minister of state natural disasters, Wais Ahmad Barmak, confirmed the number of dead to BBC Afghan. There were also avalanches to the north of the Afghan capital, Kabul.

"Avalanches have buried two entire villages," a spokesman for the ministry told news agency AFP of the Barg Matal area in Nuristan.

The neighbouring mountainous province of Badakhshan was also badly hit by snow storms.

Rescuers are experiencing difficulty reaching trapped people, because of bad weather and snow-blocked roads.

Provincial Council member Khalilullah Ghayor told BBC Afghan that two helicopters will be deployed to the area to look for survivors and deliver aid.

The main international airport in Kabul has also been closed because of snow and ice on the runway.

On the Kabul-Kandahar highway, police and soldiers rescued some 250 vehicles that were trapped.

The Salang pass north of Kabul was also closed under as much as 2.5m (7ft) of snow, local police chief Rajab Salangi said, according to Reuters news agency.

At least two stranded drivers have frozen to death. Dozens are marooned there without food.

Officials are warning of more avalanches as snow storms are continuing. </s> Avalanches across Central Asia have claimed several lives in recent days.

Daler Abdulloev, a spokesman for Tajikistan's Innovative Road Solutions (IRS) company, which helps maintain the country's roadways, told RFE/RL that three workers had been killed by an avalanche on February 19.

Two other people were missing and many roads have been closed due to avalanches in the mountainous country.

In neighboring Kyrgyzstan, the Emergency Situations Ministry's press service told RFE/RL that two children and a woman were killed by avalanches in two separate incidents on February 19.

At least 10 people were hospitalized, some in serious condition.

On February 17, an avalanche killed seven army service personnel in neighboring Kazakhstan's southern region of Zhambyl. </s> KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — An Afghan official says at least 107 people have been killed in recent days by avalanches caused by heavy snow in different parts of the country, nearly doubling an earlier death toll estimate of 54.

Omer Mohammadi, spokesman for the Afghan state minister for disaster management and humanitarian affairs, said Monday that more than 65 others have been injured and more than 150 homes destroyed by the avalanches.

Many of the newest fatalities come from Nuristan province, near the Pakistani border, where two villages were buried in snow. Mohammadi said that rescue teams have so far recovered 48 bodies from those villages. </s> Two more died in avalanches in the remote Pamir region in the country’s east, the committee said. Authorities said a rescue operation was ongoing and the casualty toll could continue to rise. Two more died in avalanches in the remote Pamir region in the country’s east, the committee said. Authorities said a rescue operation was ongoing and the casualty toll could continue to rise.

Authorities in Tajikistan said on Monday that at least seven people were killed in a series of avalanches that hit the mountainous Central Asian country over the weekend. Avalanches killed at least five people on a highway linking the capital Dushanbe with Khujand, Tajikistan’s second largest city, the emergency services committee said.

Two more died in avalanches in the remote Pamir region in the country’s east, the committee said. Authorities said a rescue operation was ongoing and the casualty toll could continue to rise.

A spokesperson for the committee told AFP around 800 people had been evacuated Sunday following the avalanches. Mountainous and poverty-struck Tajikistan is prone to natural disasters including avalanches, landslides and earthquakes. In February 2015, a single avalanche claimed six lives in the east of the country.
Several avalanches in Gorno-Badakhshan, Tajikistan, caused by heavy snowfall over the weekend, leave at least seven people dead.