At least four dead after avalanche on humanitarian route

Rescue efforts were continuing on Thursday in and around the Salang tunnel, 100 km north of the Afghan capital Kabul, after an avalanche hit the area a day earlier, trapping hundreds and leaving at least four dead and scores injured. The incident came less than a month after the tunnel reopened - providing a vital humanitarian lifeline between northern and southern parts of central Afghanistan.

"Four people are confirmed dead at two separate locations, including one child," UN spokesman Yusuf Hassan told IRIN in the Afghan capital Kabul. "Many of the rescued people are suffering from frostbite and dehydration," he explained.

Wednesday’s avalanche tore through the Qabri Kleaner area, five km south of the tunnel. According to Hassan, 57 vehicles were found buried and 100 people were rescued. "Rescuers have reached all the vehicles involved there," he added.

Rescue operations are being coordinated by the UN and led by the
British demining NGO, Halo Trust. UN medical teams, as well as the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) were on the ground assisting in the operation. Many of the exhaisted survivors had been trapped for up to 30 hours before rescuers and snow-moving equipment could reach them.

"Weather conditions have been atrocious. It’s a very difficult
environment to work," Hassan said. Meanwhile, north of Qabri Kleaner, hundreds more people were trapped inside the tunnel when the south entrance was blocked by snow from the avalanche.

Radio operator for the French NGO ACTED - Agency for Technical and Development Coordination, Ahmad Jawed, told IRIN that three people inside the tunnel had died due to suffocation.

Last month, aid workers welcomed the reopening of the strategic
Salang tunnel that passes through the inhospitable Hindu Kush mountain range. With the tunnel open, travel time from the northern city of Mazar-e Sharif and the capital was reduced dramatically from three days to one.

The tunnel was blown up by retreating Northern Alliance forces after the Taliban captured Kabul in 1996. The 3.2 km long tunnel, at 4,000 metres above sea level, is the highest
of its kind in the world.