105 missing as flood hits Afghan town

More than 100 people are missing and nine bodies recovered after a major flood hit the capital of Afghanistan’s Nuristan province on Monday, the governor’s office told AFP.

In Parun town, “105 people are missing, nine dead bodies are recovered”, said Feraidon Samim, spokesman for the Nuristan governor. The missing include the town mayor and government employees, he told AFP.

AFP journalists who visited the remote northeastern area last month said a market, shops and other buildings were located near the riverside in Parun.

Ashiqullah Safi, head of Shpoul, an NGO in the town, told AFP the flood had “completely destroyed the municipality” as well as hotels and dozens of shops.

Residents were searching the area without equipment, he said, after floodwaters left big boulders in the town.

Afghanistan’s disaster agency, ANDMA, said floods had caused “severe financial and human losses” in Parun, where efforts were underway to rescue the injured and recover bodies of those killed.

Zabihullah Mujahid, the top spokesman for the Afghan government, confirmed deaths and property damage in Nuristan province, writing on X.

The head of Afghanistan’s environmental protection agency, Mawlavi Mati-ul-Haq Khalis, this month said flooding in the country had increased.

Environmental problems “have severely affected the Afghan people and have contributed to a humanitarian crisis in the country”, he said.