The Emergencies Committee under the Government of Tajikistan reports the death toll from Khorog avalanche has risen to eight.
Ms. Umeda Yusufi, a spokeswoman for the Emergencies Committee, says eight people, including four women as well as a boy and a girl aged 4 years each, were killed by the avalanche that hit the Shosh-Kharagh area of the city of Khorog, the capital of the Gorno Badakhshan Autonomous Region (GBAO), Wednesday morning, at round 10:00 am.
According to her, nine people were pulled alive from the snow in Khorog by 2:00 pm.
18 residential buildings were damaged partially and four residential buildings were destroyed completely by the Khorog avalanche, Ms. Yusufi noted.
She further noted a resident of Tekharv village in GBAO’s Vanj district was also killed by an avalanche today morning.
Heavy snowfall has caused a series of avalanches that blocked in some places the roads in Shugnan, Rushan, Ishkashim and Roshtqala district of the GBAO.
The Emergencies Committee spokeswoman also said that an avalanche came down today morning on the 65th kilometer of the Dushanbe-Khujand highway in Varzob district trapping four cars. “The passengers and drivers were saved. Unfortunately, one of the drivers died,” Ms. Yusufi said.
