At least 19 people were killed in an avalanche today while trying to cross a mountain pass between Afghanistan and Pakistan, a local Taliban official said.
More people tried to cross the border when the avalanche hit, Najibullah Hasan Abdal, an official in Afghanistan's eastern Kunar province, told AFP.
He said that 19 bodies have been found so far and that rescuers are searching for other possible victims and survivors.
Every day, many Afghans try to cross the mountain border with Pakistan, in search of work or basic products for trade.
The number of crossings has increased significantly since the country fell into a deep humanitarian crisis after the Taliban returned to power in August.
The Afghan state coffers are practically empty after the interruption of international aid, which represents about 75 percent of the national budget, and the freezing of billions of Afghan funds abroad. Unemployment has exploded and many civil servants have not been paid for months.
Pakistan is now completing a fence to protect its porous 2.670-kilometer border with Afghanistan.
For years, traders and smugglers have used the mountain roads between the two countries to cross from one to the other without paying taxes. And that despite the dangers in that area where avalanches are very common.
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