Afghanistan landslides kill at least 2,500 people in Badakhshan

Afghan rescuers have given up hope of finding any more survivors in a double landslide that is feared to have killed more than 2,500 people in Badakhshan.

They have stopped digging through the earth and mud that swamped a whole village in the remote north-east province of Badakhshan on Friday.

Officials now say the site has become a mass grave for the village of Ab Barik.

Aid, including tents, food and water, has begun to arrive for the survivors.

They spent Friday night camped out in near freezing conditions on the open hillside.

Heavy rain is believed to have triggered Friday’s two landslides, the first of which buried hundreds of homes and the second then killed rescuers who had arrived at the scene to help reach survivors.

Attempts to dig through the thick mud to find survivors continued into Saturday, with people using shovels and even their bare hands.

But the last of the diggers had given up by later on in the day, realizing their efforts are futile, our correspondent reports.

“We cannot continue the search and rescue operation anymore, as the houses are under metres of mud,” provincial governor Shah Waliullah Adeeb said.

“We will offer prayers for the victims and make the area a mass grave.”

The landslide buried around 370 homes, which officials say housed in total some 2,500 people.

The UN says only 350 bodies have so far been recovered.

The landslides hit on Friday morning, a day of rest in Afghanistan, meaning whole families would have been at home at the time.

After the first landslide struck, residents from a neighboring village came to the rescue only to be caught by a second landslide that brought down the entire side of one hill and thousands of tonnes of mud and earth.

Continuing rain has raised fears of further landslides.

Badakhshan is in the most remote and mountainous part of the country, bordering Tajikistan, China and Pakistan.

It is one of the poorest regions in one of the poorest countries.

Another, smaller landslide was reported in Badakhshan on Thursday.