14 killed as avalanche hits Chitral's Sher Shal village

CHITRAL - At least 14 people were killed and many others buried under snow as an avalanche struck a village near Chitral here on Saturday night.

"Twenty-five houses have been completely destroyed when Sher Shal village in Garam Chashma tehsil was hit by an avalanche last night", a rescue official said on Sunday.

The rescue operation is in progress to recover the people trapped under the debris. "So far eight dead bodies have been recovered whereas nine injured have been rescued and shifted to civil hospital Garam Chashma", the official added.

Commandant Chitral Scouts Nizam-ud-Din told media that six children, six women and two men are among the dead. The area people are evacuating the victims as no outside help could reach the spot due to inclement weather and heavy snow on the roads.

11 people have been rescued from the avalanche-hit village but the injured have not been treated as there’s no dispensary here and Chitral is far away, he added.

In another incident, seven security officials were injured in a second avalanche that struck security check posts in Chitral's Arundu near the Pakistan-Afghanistan border, local police officials confirmed.