Deadly Afghan floods

Officials in the remote province of Baghlan said on Saturday that more than 50 people had lost their lives in the floods, which also washed away many homes.

The Associated Press news agency quoted the police chief in the Guzirga i-Nur district of the province, Lieutenant Fazel Rahman, who said a total of 54 bodies had been recovered, but that with the number of missing, he believed the death toll could climb to as high as 100. He also called on the central government in Kabul to send emergency assistance.

"So far no one has come to help us. People are trying to find their missing family members," Rahman said, adding that his force did not have the resources to adequately respond to the disaster.

Number of missing unclear

The AFP news agency quoted an official who put the death toll at 58.

"There is a lot of stagnant water, and there are more bodies under the rubble and mud," Mohammad Nasim Kohzad, the head of the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA)in Baghlan said. "We are still looking for other victims of this flood."

NDMA officials said they had stockpiles of food and other vital supplies in the province and were in the process of trying to get them in to the affected areas.

A spokesman for the Afghan defense ministry also said two army helicopters had been sent to provide assistance.

The flash flooding comes just over a month after a landslide triggered by heavy rain buried much of a remote village in northeastern Badakhshan province, killing at least 250 people.

pfd/dr (AFP, AP)