At least five people, including two women and three young children, were buried in a house hit by a landslide that occurred in Ismoili Somoni jamoat of Devashtich (formerly Ghonchi) district in the northern province of Sughd yesterday, according to the Emergencies Committee under the Government of Tajikistan.

Umeda Yusufi, a spokeswoman for the Emergencies Committee, says the descent of the landslide was provoked by improper irrigation of the orchard, in the territory of which the house was built.

“The dead women were 23 years old; the disaster also claimed the lives of their three young children between the ages of one and 11,” Yusufi said.  

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Radio Liberty’s Tajik Service, known locally as Radio Ozodi, has published a photo from the scene of the emergency, sent by readers.  The photo shows how the landslide broke through the wall of the house, and the roof collapsed. 

Torrential rains last week caused a series of landslides and floods in at least fifteen districts of the country that killed at least nine people and destroyed dozens of residential buildings and 100 hectares of arable lands.