Avalanches swamp Afghan pass

KABUL–A series of avalanches engulfed a mountain pass in Afghanistan, trapping hundreds of people in their buried cars and killing at least 24 people, authorities said Tuesday.

Rescuers brought in bulldozers, ambulances and helicopters in a massive effort to reach victims stuck in the frigid snow along the 3,800-metre high Salang Pass, which links the Afghan capital Kabul with the northern city of Mazar-e-Sharif.

Search-and-rescue teams recovered the bodies of 24 people but said they feared 40 others remain trapped and may have also died, Afghan Interior Minister Hanif Atmar told a Kabul news conference.

About 2,500 people were rescued from their snowbound vehicles, including more than 400 injured.

The avalanches struck Monday, burying vehicles along several kilometres of road under heavy snow. Atmar said the highway tunnel had not been closed off earlier because there had been little warning.

Military helicopters were dropping food packages to people stuck on snow-blocked roads.

Afghan and coalition forces evacuated about 430 injured, with 180 taken by coalition helicopters to Bagram Airbase for medical treatment, said Defence Minister Gen. Abdul Rahim Wardak.

Atmar said authorities were unable to locate the parents of 24 children who had been evacuated and were being treated for injuries at local hospitals.

"We cannot exactly say how many people have been killed. We opened (the door of) one Toyota car. There were five dead bodies inside and we brought them to the hospital with the help of police," he said.

Some 500 Afghan soldiers were mobilized to join about 400 police and others in rescue efforts.

The international coalition contributed four Chinook helicopters, while the Afghan army sent two choppers.

President Hamid Karzai ordered the ministries of public works, defence and disaster control to "use all possible means to get the roads unblocked and rescue those trapped and stranded in the heavy snow."