Avalanches kill more than 40 in north

Forty-one people are feared dead and 13 remain missing after a spate of avalanches struck Pakistan’s northwestern Chitral district this weekend. Heavy snows are hampering relief efforts to the affected region, officials said on Monday.

“We still don’t have exact figures on the number of people affected, however, we expect the numbers could be higher,” Jahangir Khan, relief commissioner for Pakistan’s North West Frontier Province (NWFP) told IRIN from Peshawar, the region’s capital.

“We have sent food and non-food items to Chitral, but access to the affected area remains problematic,” Khan explained, adding that the main road connecting Mastuj subdivision and Chitral’s Arandu subdivision remained blocked due to heavy snowfall, with many parts of the area without electricity.

As of Monday, the government had dispatched two military helicopters and other relief supplies, including tents, food, blankets and medicine to the affected area.

According to local authorities in Chitral, the worst affected area was the village of Wasij, where 23 bodies were recovered and 26 homes were destroyed after an avalanche swept through the tiny village on Saturday.

“The removal of the debris is continuing, as is the search and rescue effort for the 13 people still buried [under snow],” Khan said.

One day earlier, two people were confirmed dead in the tiny hamlet of Terich. On Sunday, five people died in the village of Phostiki, followed by 11 more in the village of Momi, about 25 km northwest of Chitral, the region's main town.

Avalanches are common in mountainous Chitral at this time of year, with regular heavy snowfalls and roads often closed, leaving local communities isolated from the rest of the country.

ds/at/jm