Snow, rain and floods in Afghanistan and Pakistan claimed 48 lives

Heavy snow, rain and flash floods that hit parts of Afghanistan and Pakistan have claimed at least 48 lives, officials said today as they tried to clear highways and evacuate people to safer places.

In Pakistan, where 30 people were reported killed, the southwestern province of Baluchistan was hardest hit.

Imran Zarkon, director of the province's disaster management agency, said 14 people had died in the province in the past 24 hours, mostly when the roofs of their houses collapsed due to heavy snow.

Due to the snow, many highways are closed and some parts of the province are under fifteen centimeters of deep snow. Eleven people were killed in the eastern province of Punjab hit by heavy rains, and five in the Pakistani part of Kashmir, officials said.

In that divided part of the Himalayas, heavy snow has fallen in recent days, causing power outages in several areas. Emergency services say they are trying to deliver food and other essentials to areas affected by the snow.

In Afghanistan, at least 18 people, including women and children, died due to severe weather conditions, officials said. Most highways in Afghanistan are closed due to heavy snow and fear of avalanches, a spokesman for the country's disaster management ministry said.

Among the victims in Afghanistan, eight people died in the southern province of Kandahar, said a spokesman for the governor of that province.

In the western province of Herat, seven people were killed, including five members of a family, and three were killed in the southern province of Helmand. Residents of the capital of Afghanistan, Kabul, where temperatures have dropped to minus 15 degrees Celsius, have given up driving or have difficulty getting to work on snow-covered roads.