A road connecting Khorog, the capital of the Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Region (GBAO), and the Ishkashim district has reopened to traffic.

The road was closed for traffic for a week and it reopened to traffic Thursday evening,” Umeda Yusufi, a spokeswoman for the Committee on Emergency Situations and Civil Defense (CoES) under the Government of Tajikistan, told Asia-Plus Friday afternoon. 

The Khorog-Ishkashim road was closed to traffic on January 17 after a series of avalanches blocked the road in several places.

On the same day, a large avalanche killed 64-year-old Aqkrizobek Muzofirbekov and his 41-year-old son, Maftulbek Muzofirbekov, in the Ishkashim district.  One more person was reportedly hospitalized with serious injuries.

Mountains cover 93 percent of the Central Asian nation, and avalanches and mudslides kill dozens of people every year.