Avalanche kills 19 in mountainous east Afghanistan

Gulf Today Report

An avalanche killed at least 19 people on Monday while crossing a remote mountain pass from Afghanistan to Pakistan, a Taliban official said.

Scores of Afghans cross illegally to Pakistan every day through the porous mountain border in search of jobs or to buy essential goods for trade.

One person was missing after the late Sunday avalanche near the Pakistani border, said Najibullah Hanif, who heads Kunar province's information and culture department. The landslide followed a day of heavy snow.

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Afghans from nearby villages rushed to help and were followed by officials, said Hanif, noting that district officials sent rescue teams to the remote area early Monday.

"Nineteen bodies have been recovered already," he said.

In 2015 more than 250 people were killed across the country in a series of devastating avalanches.

Illegal traffic across the Pakistan-Afghan border has soared since the Taliban returned to power in August, plunging the country into a severe crisis with tens of thousands of people made jobless.

Pakistan is attempting to fence the entire 2,670-kilometre (1,660 mile) frontier, known as the Durand line for the British colonial administrator who first drew it.

Traders and smugglers have for centuries used well-trodden remote mountain passes to criss-cross the territories and avoid paying taxes.

But deadly avalanches are common in the area.

In 2015 more than 250 people were killed across the country in a series of devastating avalanches.

Pakistan closed its border with Afghanistan after the Taliban swept into Afghanistan in mid-August hoping to head off a rush of refugees.

The country already hosts nearly 2 million Afghans who fled four decades of relentless war.

Unofficial border crossings are frequent, even as Pakistan has almost completed a fence along the 2,670 kilometre (1,660-mile) length of the border separating the two nations.