350 dead, hundreds missing in Afghan landslide village

More than 300 people were killed and hundreds of others feared dead after a landslide buried an Afghan village, officials said, as rescue teams today rushed to the scene in the hope of finding any survivors.
Local people used shovels to search for anyone trapped under a massive river of mud and rocks that engulfed the village in Badakhshan province, leaving little sign of the hundreds of homes it destroyed.
The United Nations confirmed that 350 people were dead, and provincial officials said more than 2,000 were still missing more than 20 hours after the disaster.
Emergency workers arrived at the scene today morning to be confronted by the enormous scale of the landslide, hundreds of homeless families and the risk of more earth sweeping down the hillside.

Badakhshan governor Shah Waliullah Adeeb told AFP that 2,500 people were missing.
"Our initial findings based on local people's reports show around 2,500 people, including women and children, might be dead," he said late yesterday.

"It is difficult to get confirmed information from the scene and we are seeking to determine the facts."
Provincial officials said that two successive landslides hit Aab Bareek village within one hour.
Villagers were at Friday prayers in two mosques when they were entombed by a tide of debris, and the second landslide hit many who had rushed to assist those in need.
"The number of deceased has increased to 350," the UN mission in Afghanistan said.

"A response is being mobilised for those who survived but were displaced, with some partners already on the ground.
"(The NATO military) Regional Command in the north is in contact with the Afghan National Army in regards to search and rescue efforts."
Badakhshan is a remote, mountainous province in northeast Afghanistan bordering Tajikistan, China and Pakistan.
It has been relatively peaceful since the US-led military intervention began in 2001, but has seen increasing Taliban activity in recent years.
President Hamid Karzai expressed his condolences to those affected and said immediate action was being taken to find any survivors.