8 Dead in Tajikistan Avalanche

Emergency officials in the Central Asian nation of Tajikistan say eight people have been killed in an avalanche on a mountain highway, reports The Canadian Press.

The Tajik emergency services said Thursday that the avalanche, which happened the day before, was up to 20 metres high and around 180 metres wide.

Rescuers have travelled to the site 75 kilometres north of the capital, Dushanbe.

The high-altitude route from the capital to the northern town of Khujand is fraught with danger in the early spring, as heavy snow begins to thaw.

Several people have already been killed this year in avalanches across this mountainous ex-Soviet country bordering Afghanistan.