Survivors of a landslide that entombed a village in northern Afghanistan mourned hundreds of dead relatives today as aid teams rushed to care for 700 families left homeless in the mountains.
Much of Aab Bareek village in Badakhshan province was swallowed on Friday by a fast-moving tide of mud and rock that sweep down the hillside and left almost no trace of 300 homes.
Government officials have put the current death toll at 300 people and warned it could rise by hundreds more, after initial reports suggested that as many as 2,500 people may have died.
Large crowds gathered at the remote disaster site, where the volume of deep mud covering houses made rescue efforts hopeless.
Only a few dead bodies have been pulled from the debris.
Wailing near her father's destroyed house, Begum Nisa, a 40-year-old mother of three, described the moment when the wall of mud smashed through the village.
"I was eating lunch by the window of my house, then suddenly I heard a huge roar, and I realised that our village was hit by landslides," she said.
"I shouted to my family to save themselves, but it was too late. I have lost my dear father and mother. I also lost my uncle and five members of his family."
Local people and emergency workers had used shovels to try to dig out survivors but without success, and relief work turned to caring for about 700 displaced families.
Tents, food and water began arriving yesterday as Afghan and international aid groups worked to get supplies through to the village.
Many families spent another night in the open, with residents and visiting officials fearing that the unstable hillside could unleash more landslides in the coming days.
"We have a list of around 300 people confirmed dead," Badakhshan governor Shah Waliullah Adeeb told reporters at the scene yesterday.
"We cannot continue the search and rescue operation anymore, as the houses are under metres of mud. We will offer prayers for the victims and make the area a mass grave."
Many villagers were at Friday prayers in two mosques when they were entombed by the torrent of mud, and a second landslide hit people who had rushed to assist those in need.
Afghanistan held a national day of mourning today after President Hamid Karzai expressed his condolences to those who had lost loved ones.
The UN mission in Afghanistan said its staff was on the ground, along with the Afghan Red Crescent and other aid groups.
