Rescuers Seek Hundreds Trapped by Temblor in Pakistani Villages

Rescuers struggled through waist-deep snow on Saturday to reach people trapped by an earthquake that killed at least 300 people and injured more than 500 others, officials said.

Hundreds of people were believed trapped in remote mountain villages where straw and mud huts were flattened by the powerful 6.8 quake, which rumbled across Afghanistan and Pakistan on Friday.

At least 300 homes in the village of Arandu, in the foothills of the Himalayas, were destroyed by the temblor, said Abdul Sattar Edhi, who operates a Karachi-based emergency relief organization.

Snow, rockslides and avalanches made some of the narrow and treacherous roads into the region impassable, officials said.

“We don’t know how many people are dead or injured. We’ve sent warm clothes, blankets and medicine, but the problem is access,” Edhi said.

Officials in Pakistan said the number of dead and injured was still unclear because the worst-hit areas were in remote and rugged mountainous regions of the Northwest Frontier Province bordering Afghanistan.

About 2,000 houses collapsed in the quake, authorities said.

Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif toured some of the quake-stricken areas by helicopter Saturday and promised compensation and emergency assistance.