One person was killed and three others were injured yesterday evening as a rockfall hit the Hyundai Starex minivan in the Shamsiddin-Shohin district of the Khatlon province.
“The accident took place on the 225th kilometer of the highway connecting Dushanbe and the Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Region (GBAO) at around 6:30 pm after the highway was more or less cleared of pieces of rocks carried by the previous rockfall,” Ms. Umeda Yusupova, a spokeswoman for the Committee on Emergency Situations and Civil Defense (CES) under the Government of Tajikistan, told Asia-Plus today.
According to her, the minivan driver Manouchehr Rahmatulloyev (resident of the GBAO Rushan district) died on the spot while his three passengers sustained various injuries and were taken to a hospital in the Shamsiddin-Shohin district.
Rain on January 8 caused a series of rockfalls that blocked the Dushanbe-Khorog highway in the Khojaghalton area of the Shamsiddin-Shohin district in the Khatlon province.
Rescuers of the Kulob emergency management agency and special machines of the Ministry of Transport have been involved in the emergency clearance operations.
First Deputy Minister of Transport Suhrob Mirzoyev and Deputy Minister of Transport Rustam Valizoda are currently in the rockfall site to closely monitor the situation.
Today, the highway is open only for light vehicles.
Recall, the first rockfall occurred yesterday afternoon and blocked some 50 meters of the highway connecting Dushanbe and the GBAO.
