Peshawar/Islamabad: At least 36 people
were killed and 30 others were missing after an avalanche hit
a remote hamlet in a mountainous region in northwest Pakistan,
police said on Thursday.
The avalanche buried dozens of homes in the hamlet in
Kohistan district of North West Frontier Province, 200 km from
the federal capital.
The incident occurred early this morning, officials
said. Police and civil administration officials said 19 bodies
had been retrieved from the snow by local residents and the
rescue operation was continuing.
Several women and children were among the dead, they
said. District police chief Muhammad Ilyas said authorities
had been requested to send a helicopter and heavy machinery
for the rescue operation.
Key roads had been blocked by landslides and several
feet of snow, officials said. Officials said the avalanche
occurred after heavy rain and persistent snowfall in the
rugged and hilly areas of Kohistan district.
The site where the incident occurred is remote and
the hilly terrain is impeding rescue efforts, they said.
The Kohistan district is covered by snow for most of
the winter. Parts of northern and northwestern Pakistan have
witnessed heavy snowfall over the past few weeks, increasing
the chances of avalanches.
Another avalanche in the nearby Chitral region had
killed seven people on Monday.
Frequent avalanches and landslides block roads and
leave communities isolated in the mountains of Pakistan and
neighbouring Afghanistan.
Last week in Afghanistan, 170 people were killed
when massive snow crashed onto a road on a mountain pass in
the Hindu Kush.
PTI
First Published: Thursday, February 18, 2010, 21:07