Landslide leaves 34 dead in Kyrgyzstan village

A landslide swept through a village in the former Soviet republic of Kyrgyzstan yesterday, killing 34 people.

The landslide hit Kurbu-Tash in the Uzgen region in the afternoon, burying at least 15 homes, said Berdikul Sultanov, first deputy head of the Uzgen administration.

He said the death toll could rise after further searches of the destroyed buildings.

The landslide came after three days of snow and weeks of rain. Authorities had been warning people for days that conditions were ripe for a landslide.

Mr Sultanov said the destroyed homes were covered in mud. Russia's Interfax news agency reported that 19 other homes were safely evacuated. It said all electricity and telephone lines in the village had been knocked out.

Kurbu-Tash is in a mountainous district of the Central Asian republic. The village is about 60 miles east of the town of Osh towards the Chinese border, and 370 miles south of the capital, Bishkek.

Kurmanbek Osmonov, Kyrgyzstan's Deputy Prime Minister, headed to the region yesterday, Interfax said.

Kyrgyzstan gained independence from the Soviet Union in 1991.

It is a poor country with a predominantly agricultural economy. (AP)