DUSHANBE, February 23, 2011, Asia-Plus  -- The Dushanbe-Khujand highway has been closed for traffic again as a series of new avalanches have poured down on a stretch of the highway in the Maikhoura area in Varzob, some 74 kilometers north of Dushanbe.

According to the Ministry of Transport and Communications (MoTC), heavy snowfall has increased the risk of further avalanches in the area.

We will recall that the highway was closed fro traffic from February 11 to February 17 due to numerous avalanches that hit the Maikhoura area.  Specialists involved in clearing the highway of snow worked in very hard conditions for several days because storms dumped up to 1.5 meters of snow that impeded the snow removal operation in the area.

Eight snow plows worked in the site and traffic resumed but for only several days, because new snow-slides occurred in the area yesterday.