JALALABAD (PAN-Jalalabad road remained closed for a second day on Saturday after a weather-linked rockslide blocked the highway near the Daronta tunnel in eastern Laghman province.
Following heavy rains, a portion of mountain fell on the highway that connects eastern provinces with the central capital Kabul on Thursday night around 9pm at the Qarghayi pass that links Daronta and Surkhakan, Laghman governor’s spokesman, Sarhadi Zwak, told Pajhwok Afghan News.
Hundreds of vehicles have since been stranded at the pass as public works department officials of Laghman and neighbouring Nangarhar continue to struggle to remove the heavy rocks. But they failed to restore the traffic flow due to lack of sufficient machinery, he said.
The blockade left thousands of vehicles stranded on both sides of the tunnel. Zwak said authorities were not allowing vehicles to move to continue the operations unaffected.
The 201st Selab Military Corps personnel also joined road workers to remove the rocks.
Governor Dr Fazlullah Mujadadi on Saturday asked relevant departments to accelerate efforts at clearing the road and ensuring passengers faced no difficulty.
The deputy director of public works on Saturday said the road would be cleared until evening.
nz/ma/mud
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