Avalanche kills 24 in northwest Pakistan

ISLAMABAD, Friday (AFP) At least 24 people were killed in an avalanche earlier this week while hunting precious stones in a remote mountain range in northwest Pakistan, police said Friday.

The incident occured on Tuesday in the Karakoram range in Kohistan district, local police officer Ashfaq Ahmed told AFP.

He said a helicopter was being despatched to the hard-to-reach area to retrieve bodies that locals so far had dug out of the snow. Police only learned of the avalanche late Thursday, when residents of the far-flung village of Sputmali in the highlands arrived at their police post.

Kohistan is located in the region of Pakistan that was devastated by a massive earthquake in October, which killed more than 73,000 people.

Since then, the mountainous area has been jolted by more than 1,500 aftershocks.

Ahmed said it was possible a tremor had triggered the avalanche.