Dozens killed in Afghanistan avalanches

Avalanche has killed dozens of people in Hindu Kush mountainous regions of Afghanistan while hundreds of people are still trapped in freezing cold temperatures.

On Tuesday, avalanches swept over a mountain highway and closed a landmark alpine tunnel in Afghanistan.

Several passengers trapped in the Salang pass, the main route across the Hindu Kush Mountains, said on the phone that they were freezing to death and being suffocated by car fumes, and had seen cars filled with dead bodies after remaining stuck through the night.

Days of heavy snow triggered avalanches blocking the 2.6 km (1.6 mile) long Soviet-built Salang tunnel, a historic engineering feat that links Kabul to northern Afghanistan, connecting the Indian subcontinent to Central Asia through the treacherous mountain pass at 3,400 meters (11,000 feet).

Authorities have announced an official death toll of 28. Soldiers have dug a footpath through the snow along miles of blocked cars. Passengers who could escape on foot were walking out as Afghan troops carried the injured and the elderly on their backs to waiting ambulances. Rescue workers pulled frozen corpses out of cars.

Heavy snowfall and rain also caused floods in the south of the country. Zalmay Ayoubi, spokesman for the governor of southern Kandahar Province, said six people have been killed and 10 were missing as the result of the flooding.