CHITRAL, April 8: Five bodies, four of them of members of a family, were retrieved from the rubble of their houses in the Arkari valley and Washich village on Sunday morning, residents and rescuers said.

They said that the Arkari valley’s Sufraid village was hit by an avalanche three days ago, flattening the house of Rehmat Wali. They said that after hectic efforts rescuers retrieved four bodies from the rubble of the house.

They were identified as Rehmat Wali, his wife and two daughters Sakina and Feroza.

In the Washich village, the body of a woman was recovered from the rubble of her house on Sunday.

At least 39 people were killed when the avalanche hit the village on April 1.

Villagers said that the rescue work could not be initiated properly due to the continuing snowfall, and the injured could not be shifted to hospitals owing to the closure of roads by landslides and avalanches at various places in the district.

Meanwhile, residents said that a large of number of people were feared dead in the Yarkhoon Lusht and Baroghil areas as the upper parts of the district remained covered under 12-foot snow.Baroghil is bordering Afghanistan in the north and is situated at a distance of 250 kilometres from the Chitral city. No road connects the area.

District Nazim Maghfirat Shah told Dawn on Sunday that the district government was short of resources to provide relief to stranded people. He said that the areas were accessible only through helicopters.

The nazim said that the closure of roads and the incessant snowfall had created the worst kind of food shortage in the area.

He said that avalanches constantly hit the area, making impossible to reach the area on foot.

He said that the Shah Salim village was also threatened by more avalanches where four people had died when 25 houses were hit by an avalanche last week.