Saturday, 3 May 2014

Rescuers in Afghanistan have given up hope of finding any more survivors in a double landslide that is feared to have killed more than 2,500 people.

They have stopped digging through the earth and mud that swamped a whole village in the remote north-east province of Badakhshan on Friday.

Officials now say the site has become a mass grave for the village of Ab Barik. Aid, including tents, food and water, has begun to arrive for the survivors. They spent Friday night camped out in near freezing conditions on the open hillside.

The BBC's David Loyn, who has arrived at the scene, described it as desolate and distraught as the surviving villagers try to settle in to their temporary new homes on the hillside.

He said heavy rain is believed to have triggered Friday's two landslides, the first of which buried hundreds of homes and the second then killed rescuers who had arrived at the scene to help reach survivors.

'Prayers'
Attempts to dig through the thick mud to find survivors continued into Saturday, with people using shovels and even their bare hands.

But the last of the diggers had given up by later on in the day, realising their efforts are futile, our correspondent reports.

"We cannot continue the search and rescue operation anymore, as the houses are under metres of mud," provincial governor Shah Waliullah Adeeb said.

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