Flooding in a remote part of northern Afghanistan has claimed more than 50 lives and forced thousands to flee their homes, a provincial official said on Saturday.
Lt. Fazel Rahman, the police chief in the Guzirga i-Nur district of Baghlan province, said 54 bodies have been recovered, including the remains of women and children, but many others are still missing. He said the death toll could climb to 100 and called for emergency assistance from the federal government.
"So far no one has come to help us. People are trying to find their missing family members," Rahman said, adding that the district's police force was overstretched by the scale of the disaster.
Guzirga i-Nur district is located more than 140 kilometers (85 miles) north of the provincial capital Puli Khumri.
Jawed Basharat, the spokesman for the Baghlan provincial police, said they were aware of the flooding, but that it would take eight to nine hours for them to reach the remote and mountainous area.