At least 25 people were killed and eight injured by a rock slide caused by heavy snowfall in northeastern Afghanistan, the Ministry of Disaster Management said Monday.
The landslide devastated the village of Nakre in the Tatin valley, in the province of Nuristan, on Sunday evening, covering houses under mounds of rock.
“Because of the landslide, around 25 of our citizens were killed and eight injured
,” declared ministry spokesperson Janan Sayeq in a video sent to the press, before specifying to AFP that the toll could get even worse.
Between fifteen and twenty houses were destroyed or heavily damaged, he said.
The snow was delaying rescue services, with one of the main roads into the province blocked.
Nuristan is a border province of Pakistan, mainly covered by forests and the Hindu Kush mountains.
Global warming to blame
The mountainous north of Afghanistan is the scene of avalanches and landslides every year, all the more deadly because emergency services lack equipment.
The snow arrived very late this year in this country accustomed to very harsh winters in mountainous areas, a new sign of the very strong impact of global warming.
By mid-January, Kabul had yet to see snow, which was a month and a half late.
Nuristan also experienced less frequent and less dense snowfall than in past years.
Afghanistan, where more than a third of the population is food insecure according to the World Bank, is bled by four decades of war, often hit by natural disasters and very affected by climate change.