The death toll from a massive avalanche in a valley near the capital Kabul is rising as rescue teams gain access to villages that have been buried beneath deep snow for days.
Severe weather that has affected at least 18 of Afghanistan’s 34 provinces has now killed more than 230 people, officials said on Saturday.
Mohammad Aslam, Deputy Chief of the Afghanistan National Disaster Management Authority, says 186 people have been confirmed dead in the hard-hit Panjshir Province, 100 kilometres northeast of Kabul.
In an endless sea of white, Afghan villagers waited on rooftops on Friday, waving in desperation as helicopters swooped low over the avalanche-struck region. All around them, homes, people had vanished under the snow.
The Foreign Affairs Committee of the National Council of Resistance of Iran expresses its deepest condolences to the grieving families of victims of the deadly avalanche and wishes a speedy recovery for those injured and for missing people to be found.