AT least 57 people have been killed and dozens more are missing after several avalanches hit Kashmir in 24 hours. Heavy snow has sparked disaster across Pakistan, with torrential rain also triggering landslides, officials said. In neighbouring Afghanistan, a further 15 people died amid the harsh winter weather. The latest deaths raise the two countries’ […]
AT least 57 people have been killed and dozens more are missing after several avalanches hit Kashmir in 24 hours.
Heavy snow has sparked disaster across Pakistan, with torrential rain also triggering landslides, officials said.
In neighbouring Afghanistan, a further 15 people died amid the harsh winter weather.
The latest deaths raise the two countries’ overall death toll from the severe weather to 126 since Sunday.
The disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir was the worst-affected area, with 57 deaths in the past 24 hours, said Waseem Uddin, a spokesman for Pakistan’s National Disaster Management Authority.
Two Pakistani officials said many villagers were still stranded by the avalanches in the Neelum Valley area following heavy rain.
Many people were reported missing and feared dead as rescue efforts got under way, one of the officials said.
Meanwhile in western Pakistan, heavy snowfall in southwestern Balochistan destroyed several houses in the mountainous region, killing 17 people.
The disaster management authority declared an emergency in seven districts and sought the army’s help for relief and rescue operations.
Key highways connecting Pakistan and Afghanistan were blocked due to heavy snow, forcing officials to suspend transportation of essential goods into Afghanistan.
Severe cold and heavy snow led to the death of 39 people in six provinces of Afghanistan in the past two weeks said Tamim Azimi, a spokesman for Afghanistan’s Natural Disaster Management Authority in Kabul.
He said: “We are distributing emergency assistance, including cash to families of the victims.”
A senior Indian police official said five soldiers were among the ten killed near the border between India and Pakistan.
The area is one of the world’s most militarily tense frontiers, where the neighbouring armies have confronted each other over disputed territory for decades. Kashmir has been divided between Indian and Pakistan since their independence in 1947.
In 2012, an avalanche engulfed a Pakistani army battalion headquarters near the Indian border, killing at least 124 soldiers and 11 civilians.
