Dozens killed by snow, cold in Afghanistan

An Afghan family walks on a snow-covered street in Kabul January 7, 2008. Dozens of people have been killed by heavy snow and freezing weather in recent days in Afghanistan, an official said on Saturday.

KABUL (Reuters) - Dozens of people have been killed by heavy snow and freezing weather in recent days in Afghanistan, an official said on Saturday.

The snow falls have also blocked roads connecting remote districts to urban areas in several western provinces, said Ghulam Mohammad Mujahid, an official of the Afghan Red Crescent Society.

Some 35 employees of a construction company, including Iranian nationals, have been trapped by an avalanche in Herat province close to the border with Iran, Mujahid said.

"Efforts are underway to rescue them," he told Reuters.

More than 15 people and thousands of head of sheep perished in various parts of Herat, while 20 people were killed in the rugged province of Uruzgan in the south by cold weather and snow.

A convoy carrying emergency food and other supplies for the affected families was trapped in Badghis due to heavy snow, Mujahid said.

(Reporting by Sayed Salahuddin; Editing by David Fox and Sanjeev Miglani)