UN says 145 'presumed dead' in Afghan avalanche

Rescuers shoveled through deep snow on Wednesday, searching for victims of an avalanche that destroyed a village of 200 people in northeastern Afghanistan.

Forty-seven people have been confirmed dead from the avalanche that occurred on Sunday night. Shah Waliullah Adib, the governor of Badakhshan province, said all the villagers in Dasty had been trapped under the avalanche.

"The village is completely under the snow, including children, women and men, and all their livestock," he said.

The deputy governor of the province said the Afghan Defense Ministry was sending helicopters to the village on Wednesday to help with the rescue effort.

He said about 100 rescuers equipped only with shovels were digging through mounds of snow looking for anyone who might have survived. According to the governor, initial reports were that only three women and one child survived the avalanche. They were not in the village at the time.

An official from the Afghanistan National Disaster Management Authority said at least 47 people have been confirmed dead. Deadly avalanches are common in Afghanistan's mountainous north in winter.

In February 2010, an avalanche killed more than 170 people at the 3,800-metre high Salang Pass, which is the major route through the Hindu Kush Mountains that connects the capital to the north.

In Kabul, Badakhshan lawmaker Fawzia Kofi appealed to the international community for help in the rescue effort.

She said the only rescuers who have so far been able to reach the avalanche site were people from surrounding villages. She added that Badakhshan has had a particularly deadly winter, with more than 200 people killed by avalanches in the past months.