Avalanche kills 12 in Tajikistan

DUSHANBE - An avalanche in Tajikistan killed at least 12 people in their sleep when it engulfed an apartment block in the mountainous Central Asian state overnight, emergency services said on Wednesday.

The Emergency Situations Ministry said it had rescued 18 of 38 people who were caught in the avalanche, which came after a week of heavy snowfall in the Jirgital region, 250 km north-east of the capital Dushanbe.

Another eight people remain unaccounted for, spokesman Nazokatsho Saiorabekov said, and 10 of those rescued had been taken to hospital to be treated for frostbite.

Avalanches frequently kill small groups of people during the winter and spring in Tajikistan but it was the worst death toll from a single incident in several years.

- REUTERS