Afghanistan landslide: Nation mourns as 2,500 feared dead

Zee Media Bureau/Supriya Jha Ab Bareek (Afghanistan): Searchers on Sunday suspended rescue operations for those missing in the deadly double landslide that unleashed a horrid trail of destruction in Afghanistan`s northern province, leaving a whopping number of 2500 feared dead, reports said.

Triggered by days of torrential rains, two landslides on Friday wreaked havoc in Afghanistan`s Badakhshan province with the first one levelling an entire village named Ab Bareek and the second one hitting resue workers who had arrived to help those hit by the disaster, said a BBC report. The landslide is said to have buried more than 300 homes which housed some 2,500 people reportedly. The report adds that a humongous number of 2500 people are feared dead and the searchers have stopped weilding their shovels through the remains of the landslide in search of any survivors. However talking to the AFP, officials said that the death toll could not rise beyond 500. Badakhshan`s Governor Shah Waliullah Adeeb said that the rescue operations could continue anymore as hundreds of homes were buried deep under thick mud. The Governer said that the area would be made into a mass grave and prayers would be offered for the victims. The search operations continued till Saturday as searchers kept on digging through metres of mud to find any survivor but hopes were dashed as the evening descended. Extending condolences to the kins of those killed, President Hamid Karzai has declared a day of national mourning in honour of the victims. Meanwhile aid materials like tent and food items had begun to reach the area for those affected. Badakhshan province, nestled in the Hindu Kush and Pamir mountain ranges and bordering China, is one of the most remote in the country. Landslides occur frequently in the province, but they generally happen in remote areas and produce far fewer casualties, said Mohammad Usman Abu Zar from the Meteorology Department of Badakhshan province.