Death toll in Afghan avalanches reaches 166 (Roundup)

Feb 10, 2010, 14:02 GMT

Kabul - Rescue operations were 'almost complete' on Wednesday as the death toll from a series of avalanches in northern Afghanistan reached 166, officials said.

On Monday, dozens of avalanches, the deadliest in recent Afghan memory, struck the Salang Pass, a mountainous area at an altitude of 3,300 metres where a 5-kilometre tunnel links the capital Kabul to the northern parts of the country.

'Today 95 per cent of the search operation was complete,' Interior Ministry spokesman Zamarai Bashary told a press conference in Kabul. 'Unfortunately the final death toll reached 166 today,' he said.

More than 135 bodies had been recovered and taken south to Parwan province, Bashary said, adding that the rest of the victims were moved to Baghlan province in the northern part of Afghanistan's highest pass.

The rescue teams, including local volunteers, rescued 18 people alive on Wednesday amid fading hopes for survivors.

Around 50 bodies, including five women and one child, were pulled from the snow Wednesday afternoon, said Abdul Basir Salangi, Parwan's provincial governor. The bodies had been found in a bus and three small vehicles buried under a blanket of snow, he said.

He said the rescue teams also evacuated three unconscious passengers to a hospital in Charikar, the provincial capital of Parwan.

The avalanches covered three and half kilometres of the road, covering up to 150 vehicles and throwing several other cars up to 50 metres from the main highway, Bashary said.

Thirty-two vehicles, including three passenger buses were destroyed beyond repair, while another 70 cars were damaged, Bashary said.

Farid Rahid, a spokesman for the Public Health Ministry said that 135 people were injured in the incident and were admitted in the Kabul, Parwan and Baghlan hospitals.

Rahid said several other injured had been taken to NATO and Afghan army hospitals, while dozens of passengers with minor injuries had already been treated and released.

More than 600 army and police forces and dozens of local residents began the rescue operation Monday afternoon, pulling 2,600 people from snow-blocked roads over three days, Bashary said.

At least four NATO helicopters and two Afghan military helicopters were also involved in the operation. The Afghan choppers, unable to land, dropped food packages and blankets to those still trapped.

The NATO aircraft, Chinook 47 helicopters from the US, landed on the main highway several times on Tuesday, ferrying stranded motorists to Bagram, the biggest US military base in the northern part of Kabul city, NATO said in a statement.

'Almost 250 Afghans were brought to Bagram Air Field where they were treated for injuries, provided food, shelter and warm blankets,' it said.

Bashary said that the police could not say if there were more vehicles trapped on the road, but hoped they could reopen the highway to traffic by Thursday.