Dozens Die in Remote Afghanistan Avalanche

(PHOTO: Badakhshan province, Afghanistan/UKPA)In a mountainous area of northeasternAfghanistan, rescuers - some of whom had walked for 2 days from neighboring villages & were the 1st to reach the site - searched through deep snow Tuesday looking for victims of an avalanche that destroyed Dasty village, in Darwaz district, in the province of Badakhshan province; close to the Tajikistan border where the avalanche occurred on Sunday night. It took government officials in the provincial capital ofFaizabad 11 hours to drive to the remote area. Equipped only with shovels, disaster workers are looking for anyone who might be alive. Initial reports were that only 3 women & 1 child had survived, as they were not in the village at the time.  37 people have been confirmed dead, but authorities fear the death toll will rise.  Deadly avalanches are common in this mountainous region in winter.  In February 2010, 170 people were killed at the 12,700-foot-high Salang Pass; the major route through the Hindu Kush mountains to the north.  (Read More at RFL)