As many as 100 people are feared dead in an earthquake and landslide that buried more than 20 houses in northern Afghanistan on Tuesday, officials said. Rescuers have so far pulled two women's bodies from the rubble of the landslide in Baghlan province, said provincial Gov Abdul Majid. The UN confirmed one other death and said houses were destroyed across five districts.
A massive landslide of mud and rocks buried houses so deep in the remote mountain village of Sayi Hazara that rescuers gave up trying to use shovels to dig through the buried buildings, said Jawed Basharat, a spokesman for the provincial police chief who was part of a team that examined the village after the slide. There were no visible signs of the buildings underneath.
They knew how many houses were buried only from information provided by area residents, who said between 25 and 30 houses disappeared in the landslide. An earthquake measuring a magnitude 5.4 struck the Hindu Kush region on Tuesday morning, followed by a 5.7 quake, the US Geological Survey said. Both were felt as far away as the Afghan capital, Kabul, where buildings shook.
Rescue teams were struggling to free up to 70 villagers believed to be trapped.More rescue teams dispatched from the capital Kabul were on their way to Mullah Jan.
A massive landslide of mud and rocks buried houses so deep in the remote mountain village of Sayi Hazara that rescuers gave up trying to use shovels to dig through the buried buildings, said Jawed Basharat, a spokesman for the provincial police chief who was part of a team that examined the village after the slide. There were no visible signs of the buildings underneath.
They knew how many houses were buried only from information provided by area residents, who said between 25 and 30 houses disappeared in the landslide. An earthquake measuring a magnitude 5.4 struck the Hindu Kush region on Tuesday morning, followed by a 5.7 quake, the US Geological Survey said. Both were felt as far away as the Afghan capital, Kabul, where buildings shook.
Rescue teams were struggling to free up to 70 villagers believed to be trapped.More rescue teams dispatched from the capital Kabul were on their way to Mullah Jan.