March 8, 2012, photo shows relief helicopter at Rawanak, Shakay district, Afghanistan, following a deadly snow slide in Daspai. (AP Photo/Deb Riechmann) Mar 12, 2012; 9:21 AM ET
A series of snowslides has swept through remote mountain villages of northeastern Afghanistan, leaving at 56 people dead, the Australian ABC website said on Sunday.
At least another 145 people were missing and "presumed dead" in the Shakay region of Badakhshan province, according to the United Nations.
The worst hit was Shirin Nazem, a village of more than 200 people, which was buried by a slide after days of snow followed by warming.
Fears are for further tragedies to come, owing to not only the heavy snow, but also to coming snowmelt and flooding. "Heavy snows will result not just in avalanches but also, in a few weeks' time, severe flooding in many parts of the country," humanitarian coordinator Michael Keating.
ABC called the winter, which has been marked by unusually heavy snowfall, "Afghanistan's harshest" in 15 years.
At least 50 people of Badakhshan also died in a March 4 avalanche, according to multiple reports.
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