The Times
Jerome Starkey in Kabul

A series of massive avalanches have killed at least 64 people on Afghanistan’s busiest highway, officials said yesterday, as rescuers struggled to free more than 1,500 people trapped deep inside the Hindu Kush.

Dozens of cars were swept off a treacherous mountain pass on Monday when snowfalls caused more than three hours of avalanches near the Salang tunnel. Officials said that snow buried more than two miles of road.

Hundreds of cars, buses and lorries were jammed bumper to bumper in the path of the advancing snow, witnesses told The Times, after bad weather brought the two-mile pass to a halt before the avalanches struck. (Read more)