KUNDUZ: At least 14 people were killed after an avalanche hit a gold mine in a remote area of northern Afghanistan controlled by the Taliban, officials said Friday.

Farid Nekfar, who heads the disaster management department of Afghanistan’s Badakhshan province, said efforts were ongoing to recover at least two bodies after the avalanche on Thursday afternoon.

“We are in contact with the locals and emergency teams. So far 12 dead bodies have been recovered from under the avalanche,” Nekfar told AFP. “Unfortunately the area is under the control of the insurgents.”

Nek Mohammad Nazari, a spokesman for Badakhshan’s governor, gave a slightly higher toll.