KABUL: Dozens of people in Afghanistan and Pakistan were killed after heavy snow and avalanches hit over the weekend.In eastern Afghanistan, at least 50 people died and dozens more were missing on Sunday after an avalanche buried a village in Nuristan, provincial governor Hafiz Abdul Qayum said. "So far the rescue workers have recovered nine bodies and efforts are under way to retrieve more," he said.The avalanche struck a village of 25 houses, but evacuation operations were delayed by the weather, Chitral deputy commissioner Shahab Hameed Yousafzai. "There is no way to rush the injured persons to Chitral hospital because all roads in the valley have been blocked due to heavy snowfall," he said.In a separate incident in the Chitral region, a government rescue worker was killed when an avalanche struck a check post near the Pakistan-Afghanistan border, the commanding officer told Reuters.The snow wreaked havoc on major roads in Afghanistan, including the Kabul-Kandahar Highway , where police and soldiers had to rescue around 250 cars and buses trapped by the storm, said Jawid Salangi, a spokesman for Ghazni province, where as much as two metres of new snow was reported. "Fortunately we arrived on time and there is not a single casualty," he said, noting that officials expected the road to reopen quickly.The Salang pass north of Kabul was also closed under as much as two and a half metres of snow, according to police general Rajab Salangi, who oversees the area. "It will remain blocked until the snow is cleared from the main road, facilities are provided and it is safe to travel," he said.

Source: Times of India February 05, 2017 12:44 UTC