29 dead due to hailstorm, rain in Afghanistan: officials

HERAT, Afghanistan: Twenty-nine people died in two provinces in Afghanistan due to hail and heavy rain, officials said Tuesday.

“Twenty-one people were killed and six others were injured” because of hail in western Farah province, said Mohammad Israel Sayar, head of the province’s Disaster Management Department.

The victims are members of two families who had gone for a picnic, he said.

In southern Kandahar, the local disaster management department said in a statement that eight people -- including women and children -- were killed in several locations due to heavy rain. “Today, four women who were busy washing clothes were swept away by floodwaters... and only one woman survived,” the statement said.