Salang Pass reopens after 2-day closure

CHARIKAR — reopened for traffic on Wednesday, two days after a heavy snowstorm closed northern and southern parts of the key highway, an official said.

With threats of snowfall and duststorms having subsided, both sides of the tunnel had been cleared, the Salang Pass maintenance commander, Gen. Abdul Rajab, told Pajhwok Afghan News.

He said all stranded passenger buses, stopped for security reasons, started moving through the mountain pass on Tuesday evening. Heavy supply trucks would also start moving to their destinations soon, he added.

More than 100 passengers were shifted to shelters and kept there for two days. In winters, heavy snowfalls on the pass lead to the death of many people every year.

In Feb. 2010, 170 people died and 125 others were injured as a result of heavy snowstorms and avalanches that hit the Russian-built tunnel.

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