On May 4, 2014, Afghan government officials have convinced the inhabitants of Abe Barik to give up looking for dead bodies in the pile of mud and to name the huge hill of mud triggered by the killer landslide on May 2, 2014 ‘the mass grave of Abe Barik martyrs’.
Early Friday afternoon, a massive landslide triggered by heavy rainfall engulfed the village of Abe Barik in northern Badakhshan province of Afghanistan. At least 300 families have been trapped under dirt and mud, whereas only 255 of the dead bodies have been identified so far, but the local authorities estimate that more than 2,100 people are dead. Heavy rains in the last few weeks have also caused flash floods in different parts of the country, taking dozens of lives and damaging hundreds of houses.
Emergency packages containing contained food, rugs, blankets and kitchen utensils were prepared for 350 families in the first stage of the aid campaign. The Afghan government has also announced a day of national mourning in the country.
It is tragic that locals agreed that the village becomes a mass grave, but it would have been a much larger effort to dig for buried individuals. The scene has now to be secured to enable people to pray on the mud.
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