A highway connecting Dushanbe and the northern Sughd province has reopened for traffic.  However, the risk of further mudslides and landslides reportedly remains high.

The Dushanbe-Khujand highway was cleared of stones and slurry and traffic resumed Thursday evening, according to the press center of the Branch of Innovative Road Solutions (IRS) in Tajikistan, which operates the toll on the Dushanbe-Chanak highway.

“The highway has been fully cleared of stones and slurry and traffic has resumed.  However, the risk of landslides and rockfalls in some places remains high, and therefore, we ask drivers to be careful,” Daler Merganov, a spokesman for the Branch of Innovative Road Solutions (IRS) in Tajikistan, told Asia-Plus in an interview.   

Recall, the Dushanbe-Khujand highway had been closed for traffic since Wednesday (April 24) evening because of heavy snow and rockfalls caused by torrential rains.  Torrential rain on April 24 reportedly caused a series of mudslides and rockfalls that blocked the highway in several places.

As it had been reported earlier, one person was killed by rockfall in Ayni district (Sughd province) on April 24.  A 40-year-old passenger of Toyota Prado died after a boulder fell onto the car from mountain on the 155th kilometer of the Dushanbe-Khujand highway.