DPA

KABUL

FLASHFLOODS due to heavy rainfall killed as many as 27 people at a wedding in northern Afghanistan, while hundreds of others were missing or trapped under mud, officials said on Monday.

Floods swept through several villages in Sancharak and Kohistanant districts of Sarie- Pul province on Sunday night, the officials said.

Faizullah Sadat, a local director of the disaster management authority office said 21 people including women and children were found dead after rainfall and flashflood hit a wedding party in Dehmarda village of Sancharak district.

According to officials, so far 25 bodies have been recovered.

Locals believe that more than 100 people are missing in the disaster. Scores of villagers including women and children had gathered for the celebration late Sunday in Dehmarda village in the Sarie- Pul province when heavy rains caused floodwaters to rush down the mountains, said Sayed Jahangir Kramat, the deputy police chief for the province.

Sadat, director of the local disaster management authority, said that more than 80 went missing during the floods that hit several villages on its course. The flooding began late last night at around 10 pm, the official added.

But Kramat said only four people were missing, rejecting reports that as many as 80 people could not be found. “I am at the site, and have been talking to the people and these reports are not true,” he said. He said 45 homes in the village were destroyed and another 150 were damaged.

“Two helicopters of the national army have been dispatched to help rescue the people who might be alive or trapped under mud,” he said.

Sadat also said that five more people were killed in other three areas of the province due to the floods.

Earlier Abdul Farid Faranji, a spokesman for the provincial governor, had said rescue teams found bodies of 27 guests who were attending the wedding. The bride was the only one they found alive, he said. Faranji also said as many as 300 people were missing.

“Around 45 residential houses were destroyed in Dehmarda village where floods hit the wedding ceremony.

Also more than a hundred other houses were destroyed in Gosfandi district,” the director said.