166 killed in avalanche

HELICOPTERS ferried rescuers to and bodies away from the site of a massive avalanche that blocked an important mountain pass 115km north of Kabul as the death toll soared yesterday to 166, officials said.

Hundreds more remained trapped in snowbound cars.

Afghan troops dug through huge snowdrifts trying to rescue people from buried vehicles in the Salang Pass, a key road that connects the Afghan capital with the north.

The 4km of road that were subsumed in the avalanches have been cleared of snow, but are littered with abandoned or snow-packed cars. Some of the victims were found frozen to death inside their vehicles. Authorities said the rescue operation was 95% over and significant increases in the death toll were not expected.