100 Feared Dead After Avalanche Hits Afghan Travelers

An avalanche crashed down on the Salang Highway in northern Afghanistan, burying at least 100 people, none of whom are believed to have survived, witnesses said Thursday.

The victims were walking Wednesday toward the Salang Tunnel to catch a bus to Mazar-i-Sharif when a rumbling began and the snow roared down on the highway, said Jan Abdul, a traveler who reached Kabul, the capital, nearly 100 miles from the accident site.

Since last week, when the Taliban religious army stopped all passenger buses from traveling to the northern third of the country controlled by its enemies, people have had to walk 10 miles across the front line to catch a bus on the northern side of the tunnel.

The hard-line Taliban rulers shut the Salang Highway, the only road link between Kabul and northern Afghanistan, because they feared fresh fighting in the area. However, the road was temporarily reopened Thursday, Information Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi said.