Rescue teams were struggling on Tuesday to reach residents trapped beneath mud and boulders after devastating floods swept through Nuristan province in eastern Afghanistan, killing at least 23 people and leaving around 100 others missing, officials said.
According to Afghanistan’s national disaster management authority and the provincial governor’s office, the death toll from Monday’s flooding has risen as search and rescue efforts continue.
An AFP journalist in Parun, the provincial capital, reported that dozens of residents were using wooden poles and their bare hands to search through debris for missing relatives and neighbours.
Farid Gul Zaheer, a 34-year-old pharmacist who was injured while fleeing to higher ground, described the scale of the disaster.
“I have never witnessed such a dangerous flood,” he told AFP. “It felt like there was an earthquake, and I heard children and people screaming.”
Rescue operations remain underway, with authorities racing to locate survivors amid difficult terrain and widespread destruction.