Twenty people died this morning in eastern Afghanistan when a boat sank while crossing a river, the Taliban government's provincial official announced.
The provincial director of the information and culture department of Nangarhar province, Quraishi Badlon, said there were women and children among the fatalities.
"A boat with 25 passengers on board was crossing the Kunar River in the Basewal area," Abdul Basir Zabuli, police spokesman for the province of Nangarhar, where the incident occurred, told Spanish agency EFE.
Five of the passengers survived the sinking, according to village residents.
Rescue teams managed to recover the bodies of a man, a woman, two boys and a girl, the Nangarhar health department said in a statement cited by the US agency AP.
A medical team and ambulances were sent to the area, the local health department said.
Authorities did not provide details about the cause of the accident and said rescuers were still looking for other bodies.
After decades of conflict in Afghanistan, the lack of bridges and other transport infrastructure often forces people to use locally built boats to cross rivers.
The development of Afghanistan's infrastructure suffered a serious decline after the Taliban took power on August 15, 2021, according to EFE.
With the blocking of international reserves, as part of sanctions against the Islamist regime, and development aid funds, the Taliban face serious financial problems in meeting the country's most basic needs.
