Dozens of landslides and rockfalls caused by recent torrential rains have occurred in the Gorno Badakhshan Autonomous Region (GBAO) in recent days.

Torrential rain on April 17-18 caused a landslide that blocked the highway from the city of Khorog, the administrative center of GBAO, to the Ishkashim district.

A huge rock carried by the landslide blocked the highway in the Pishparin area in the Shugnan district (the 23rd kilometer of the Khorog-Ishkashim highway).

The Khorog-Ishkashim highway is considered the most avalanche-and-landslide-prone road in the region.

Safar Gulmamadov, the head of this section of the Khorog-Ishkashim highway, says roadmen are still working to clear the highway of rocks.

According to him, they have used hand-placed explosives to destroy the huge rock blocking the highway.  The blast that was equivalent to 100 kg of detonating TNT had yielded no results.  “Now we are going to use the hand-placed explosive having a yield of 500 kg of TNT to destroy the rock” Gulmamadov said.  

The Khorog-Ishkashim highway is currently closed for traffic and volunteers are helping people who have to go to Ishkashim to get over the blockage.