It occurred late on Friday evening 67km
(42 miles) to the north of Dushanbe, a mountainous republic
in ex-Soviet Central Asia. Dozens of cars are still buried
under snow as another avalanche crashed on to lorries on the
road, rescuers said. Avalanches are very common along the
route, which links Tajikistan to China.
Police say that one of the drivers
managed to make a phone call from his mobile but after that
all communication was lost. There have been heavy snow
storms all across this part of Central Asia and one driver
who recently came back from the border with China said the
road had become exceptionally dangerous, the BBC's Central
Asia correspondent Natalia Antelava reports.
But much of the economy of this
impoverished region relies on trade with China, and so many
drivers say they have no choice but to take the risk, our
correspondent adds.
Communications problems
Tajikistan's emergencies ministry
told Reuters news agency it was having difficulty confirming
the death toll reported by police. "Rescuers have so far
reported two people killed but because of bad weather they
are only able to phone in occasionally," spokeswoman Munira
Nazariyeva said.
"There are still people under snow,
we cannot say how many at the moment. The rescue operation
continues," she added. Confirming the death toll of 15 for
the Associated Press news agency, interior ministry
spokesman Khudonazar Asoyev said it was unclear how many
vehicles were trapped under the snow.
The Dushanbe-Khudzhand road used to
close for the winter, but it stayed open this year thanks to
the newly built Anzob tunnel, which goes under a
snow-covered pass.