BISHKEK, Feb 4 (AFP) - A bus carrying at least 11 people has gone missing under a massive avalanche in the former Soviet republic of Kyrgyzstan, officials said on Friday amid a rising death toll from harsh winter conditions in this mountainous region.
The bus disappeared on a remote road in the western Dzhalal-Abad region of this impoverished mountain republic on Tuesday, emergencies ministry spokesman Emil Akhmatov said.
"Rescuers went out to the site of this possible tragedy after learning of it only on February 2 -- one avalanche occurred on this road on February 1 and two more on February 2," Akhmatov said.
"The bus hasn't been found... the fate of its passengers and driver is unknown," Akhmatov told AFP.
Avalanches are an almost year-round occurrence in mountainous parts of former Soviet Central Asia, which rises as high as 7,000 metres (23,000 feet) in places.
But temperatures have been particularly extreme in recent days, reaching as low as minus 30 degrees Celcius (minus 22 degrees Farenheit).
On Thursday rescuers found one body under another avalanche in Kyrgyzstan's southern Osh region, while the cause of another road death possibly linked to the weather is being examined, Akhmatov said.
The same day nine people were also killed in avalanches that swept through neighbouring Tajikistan, Tajik officials said.
A day earlier in Uzbekistan four road repair men died under an avalanche on the high mountain pass between the capital Tashkent and the populous Ferghana Valley on Wednesday, Uzbekistan's emergencies ministry said in a written statement.
A driver with Uzbekistan's meteorological service was also killed by an avalanche during a trip to assess conditions, the ministry said.
02/04/2005 15:57 GMT - AFP