An avalanche killed nine members of a single family in northwestern Pakistan on Friday, while heavy snowfall in neighboring Afghanistan killed 11 people across six provinces on Thursday. The winter weather also stranded thousands of tourists near Pakistan’s capital and isolated entire towns across Afghanistan, disrupting supply routes and emergency response efforts.
The dual disasters in South Asia reflect a seasonal pattern of winter-weather deaths in the region. At least 22 Pakistanis died in a similar snowstorm in 2022, and Afghanistan recorded 36 deaths from heavy snow and rain in February 2025.
Emergency workers in Chitral district, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, retrieved all nine bodies from beneath the avalanche, according to Pakistan’s emergency services spokesperson Bilal Faizi. The avalanche struck on Friday, killing all members of a single family, including four women.
In neighboring Afghanistan, heavy snowfall killed 11 people across six provinces on Thursday, according to Mohammad Yousuf Hammad, a spokesman for Afghanistan’s disaster management agency. The storm isolated towns and villages and cut off roads across the country.
Thousands stranded, roads blocked
The snowfall created multiple emergencies across the region. Heavy snowfall blocked multiple roads leading to Murree, a hill station about 60 kilometers northeast of Islamabad, Pakistan’s capital. Authorities closed all roads in the area to facilitate evacuation of stranded travelers, but hundreds of vehicles became trapped in massive traffic jams on the outskirts of Islamabad. Despite warnings from police, some travelers argued with authorities and insisted on continuing toward Murree. Authorities reported that dozens of vehicles parked outside hotels in the area had been buried under heavy snow.
Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz Sharif of Punjab province, where Murree is located, said heavy machinery was being used to clear snow and assist the stranded tourists. The district administration of Islamabad advised residents to avoid traveling to Murree.
Winter deaths in South Asia
Similar disasters have struck the region before. At least 22 Pakistani tourists died in January 2022 after becoming trapped in their cars during a severe snowstorm in Murree, most from hypothermia. In response, Pakistan imposed stricter winter emergency measures in Murree and elsewhere in the country’s north.
Afghanistan’s critical passages blocked
In Afghanistan, the snowstorm blocked roads linking Kabul, the capital, to the country’s northern provinces and closed the Salang Pass, a high-altitude crossing in the Hindu Kush mountain range that connects the north to the rest of the country. Afghanistan’s disaster management agency tasked local officials with reaching affected people and providing food and non-food assistance.
In February 2025, heavy snowfall and rain killed 36 people in Afghanistan across different parts of the country.