At least 16 people have been reported killed in an avalanche in a mountainous area in the central Asian republic of Tajikistan, according to DPA. According to the Russian news agency Itar-Tass, citing the Tajik Interior Ministry, the avalanche of snow buried dozens of vehicles in a mountain road around 70 kilometres north of the Tajik capital Dushanbe. Rescue services and police were still searching for a number of people reported missing in the incident, which occurred on a main road between Dushanbe and the country's second-largest city Khujand. The mountain road, which reaches heights of 3,000 metres, is a frequent site of avalanches of rocks and snow.