At least 52 dead in landslide in northeast Afghanistan

An Afghan official says at least 52 people have been killed in a massive landslide in a remote part of northeastern Badakhshan province.

Shah Waliullah Adeeb, the provincial governor, says the landslide happened in Khawhan district, near the border with Tajikistan, early on Tuesday.

Mr. Adeeb says there are roads to the area, which is now covered with snow, and that the “only way to reach it is by helicopter.” Badakhshan is one of the poorest and least developed regions of Afghanistan, and regularly suffers huge landslides when the snows begin to melt in spring.

In early May last year, at least 350 people were buried by a mudslide in the same province.