Avalanche sweep down mountainside in Tajikistan: 3 killed

Avalanche sweep down mountainside in Tajikistan: 3 killed

An avalanche swept down a mountainside in Tajikistan, killing three people, an emergencies official said Wednesday.

The bodies were found on Tuesday, a day after the snowslide near the city of Khorog, around 650 kilometers (400 miles) east of the capital Dushanbe, said Nazokatsho Sayerbekov, spokesman for the Emergency Situations Ministry.

The three villagers, all members of a single family, were believed to have gone to the edge of their settlement in search of firewood or for other personal business, Sayerbekov said.

More than 20 people have been killed in avalanches in Tajikistan this year. Almost 90 percent of the poor Central Asian nation's territory is covered with mountains and avalanches are common in winter and spring, reports the AP.

I.L.