KHOROG, February 8, Asia-Plus  -- Following ongoing heavy snowfalls, the situation in Gorno Badakhshan remains complex and its administrative center, the city of Khorog, is still in snow captivity.

The GBAO emergencies official Yusuf Qurbonov told Asia-Plus today that serious snow blockade occurred practically on all roads from Khorog.  “All highways from Khorog, except the Khorog-Ishkashim road, are closed for traffic,” Qurbonov said, noting that a series of avalanches caused by heavy snowfalls blocked in some places the roads from Khorog to Murgab district and Dushanbe.

“Many vehicles were trapped after avalanches hit the areas near the villages of Qalot and Past Khouf in the Rushan district,” the GABO emergencies official noted.

In the meantime, work on clearing roads of snow is going on.  Khoushnazar Abdurahimov, deputy head of the state unitary enterprise Badakhshonroh (GBAO state transportation enterprise), says, “Heavy snowfall is continuing for already three days that makes work on clearing roads of snow dangerous because the avalanche risk is high.” 

Some one meter of snow has fallen in some areas of the region over the past weekends, severing communications between the districts in Gorno Badakhshan.