A landslide has killed at least 28 people and left another 30 people injured in the Noorgaram district of Nuristan province, local sources said Tuesday.
Heavy rains and snow in Noorgaram’s Nakre area is believed to be the cause of the landslide on Sunday, with the number of casualties expected to rise, local officials said.
Taliban Information and Culture director in Nuristan Samiul Haq Haqbayan said that many homes in a Nakre village had been impacted and at least 25 bodies, including women and children, had been retrieved from under the rubble and debris so far.
Mr Haqbayan said that their assessment shows at least five houses were completely destroyed and more than 20 houses were damaged.
He added that efforts are ongoing to find any survivors or people trapped under the rubble, but more casualties are expected.
A local source said that the landslide destroyed five houses and damaged another 30 houses with men, women, children among the dead and wounded.
The source says that the injured have been taken to Nuristan’s central hospital for treatment.
Nuristan is a mountainous, earthquake-prone province in the east of Afghanistan where many residents have homes built on the slopes of the mountains. The risk of landslides is particularly high at the end of winter as heavy snowfalls melt and rain increases.
