DUSHANBE, Feb 7 (AFP) - At least 10 people have been killed in avalanches that have isolated several mountainous regions in eastern Tajikistan, officials in the Central Asian country announced here Monday.
The 10 deaths were in the district of Nurobad around 140 kilometers (87 miles) east of Dushanbe, where another four people were hospitalized in critical conditions, Emergency Situations Minister Mirzo Zieyev said.
The avalanches, triggered after recent heavy snowfall in eastern Tajikistan, destroyed dozens of homes and a school in the region, he added.
Communications were cut with at least seven regions in the mountains of eastern Tajikistan and authorities had received no word from "dozens of mountain villages that have been isolated by the snow," Zieyev said.
"Access there is very difficult and we have no idea what is happening."
Around 3,000 people, including many children, were evacuated from the Nurobad region and were currently being sheltered in schools, mosques or hospitals.
Mountains cover around 93 percent of Tajikistan, a former Soviet republic in Central Asia with a population of around 6.6 million people.
02/07/2005 14:45 GMT - AFP