Three men have been killed in an avalanche in the Ayni district, Sughd province. 

The accident took place in the Kumargi Bolo area.

The Emergencies Committee under the Government of Tajikistan announced late Wednesday that a 51-year-old resident of the Ayni district and two residents of the Shahrinav district (district subordinate to the center), 40-year-oldand 33-yer-old respectively, died in the avalanche.

The trio were employees of the Tajik-Chinese joint venture Kooperatsiya 19 (Cooperation 19), Ms. Umeda Yusufi, a spokeswoman for the Emergencies Committee, told Asia-Plus in an interview.   .      

According to her, the bodies were removed from the snow and handed over to the appropriate authorities.

Heavy precipitation that has hit the country in recent days has reportedly increased the risk of further avalanches in the country, where dozens of snow-slides have occurred over the past several days.

Thus, avalanches have occurred on the 550th kilometer of the road Dushanbe-Kulob-Khorog and on the 31st kilometer of the Khorog-Ishkashim road in the Gorno Badakhshan Autonomous Region (GBAO).  

While most roads are open, the Emergencies Committee advises people not to travel to mountain areas unnecessarily