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RAWALPINDI: Two C130 aircraft carrying relief goods were dispatched on Saturday (today) from the Nur Khan airbase in Rawalpindi to Afghanistan's Panjshir province for victims of a massive avalanche, said a statement issued by the Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR).
The relief goods include tents, blankets, stoves, as well as eatables like rice, ready-to-eat meals and medicines.
More than 250 people have been killed in a series of avalanches triggered by heavy snowfall around Afghanistan this week,
The bulk of the deaths have come in Panjshir province, north of Kabul, where at least 186 people were killed, acting provincial governor Abdul Rahman Kabiri told AFP.
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| Survivors wait to receive food donations near the site of an avalanche in the Paryan district of Panjshir province, north of Kabul, Afghanistan, Friday, Feb 27, 2015. — AP |
The avalanches came after two days of heavy snow destroyed more than 100 homes in the province and blocked main roads, making it difficult for rescue workers to reach the stricken villages.
Take a look: Over 100 die in Afghanistan avalanches
Deadly avalanches are common in Afghanistan’s mountainous areas in winter. One in the remote far northeast in 2012 left 145 people missing, presumed dead.
In 2010, another avalanche killed 165 people in the high-altitude Salang Pass, which runs through the Hindu Kush mountain range that connects Kabul to the north.
