Flooding in a remote part of northern Afghanistan has killed more than 50 people and forced thousands to flee their homes, AP cited officials as saying on Saturday. It was the latest in a string of deadly flash floods, landslides and avalanches in Afghanistan's rugged northern mountains, where roads are poor and many villages are virtually cut off from the rest of the country. Lt. Fazel Rahman, the police chief in the Guzirga i-Nur district of the northeastern Baghlan province, said 54 bodies have been recovered, including the remains of women and children, but many others are still missing. He said the death toll could climb to 100 and called for emergency assistance from the central government. "So far no one has come to help us. People are trying to find their missing family members," Rahman said, adding that the district's police force was overstretched by the scale of the disaster. An exact death toll remained unclear. A statement from President Hamid Karzai's office said 58 people had been killed, while others put the toll higher. Gen. Mohammad Zahir Azimi, spokesman for the Afghan Defense Ministry, said two Army helicopters were sent to the area to provide assistance. The Afghanistan Natural Disaster Management Authority began shipping out stockpiles of food and other supplies in Baghlan province to the affected area, said Mohammad Aslim Sayas, deputy director of the agency. He said a delegation was sent to the affected villages to their assess needs. Guzirga i-Nur district is located more than 140 kilometers (85 miles) north of the provincial capital, Puli Khumri. -- SPA 20:39 LOCAL TIME 17:39 GMT تغريد
