At least 15 bodies have been recovered after an avalanche hit Afghanistan’s eastern Kunar Province amid heavy snowfalls.
Officials in Kunar quoted by the Bakhtar news agency said that 20 people were hit by the snow in the avalanche in the province's Dangam district.
RFE/RL's Radio Azadi reported that heavy snow had fallen in several Afghan provinces, including Maidan Wardak, Parwan Panjshir, Badakhshan, and Baghlan, and a number of highways had been blocked.
Mawlawi Najibullah, the chief of the province's information and culture department, told German news agency dpa that the avalanche hit late on February 6 in a mountainous area close to Pakistan.
Najibullah said the victims included local people who tried to come to the rescue of those trapped by the heavy snow.
The official said residents were trying to recover the bodies of those still missing. Some 15 to 20 people are still missing, according to a local elder.
Last month, local media reported that at least five residents of Badakhshan Province died due to heavy snow in the Raghistan district.