Firefighters rescued several truck drivers trapped in a snowstorm in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region on Wednesday after heavy snowfall caused traffic accidents and dangerous road conditions.
In Dabancheng District of Xinjiang's Urumqi City, a driver injured in a three-vehicle chain collision was among those rescued.
The accident occurred on a road section experiencing a heavy snowstorm that brought extremely low visibility. The driver, trapped inside a deformed cab, showed signs of hypothermia, including stiff limbs and confusion, when rescuers arrived.
Firefighters used rescue tools to free the driver from the deformed vehicle and sent him to a local hospital. He is now out of life-threatening danger.
In a separate incident on Wednesday, firefighters also rescued two semi-trailer truck drivers stranded in a snowstorm in Xinjiang's Turpan City.
Multiple areas in Xinjiang have been hit by heavy snowfall in recent days. In the mountainous areas of Manas County in Changji Hui Autonomous Prefecture, the snowfall caused a sharp drop in temperatures, with snow reaching more than 40 centimeters in some road sections.
As of Thursday afternoon, the snow on the affected road sections had been cleared and traffic flow was restored.
Firefighters rescue truck drivers trapped in snowstorm in northwest China
Pakistani warplanes struck several locations across Afghanistan on Thursday night and Friday, killing at least six people, including a woman and a child, and wounding more than a dozen others, local officials said.
The strikes hit a fuel depot near the country's Kandahar Airport, areas in the capital Kabul, and the eastern Nangarhar Province.
A Pakistani security source said the strikes targeted hideouts belonging to the Pakistani Taliban, also known as Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).
In Kabul's 21st police district, one of the areas hit, a market was left in ruins. Several cars were destroyed, and windows of buildings in the market and nearby areas were shattered. A crater caused by the Pakistani airstrikes was also visible.
"This is my car. I had parked it here, and it was the only way I could bring food to my family's table. It was my sole source of income and my only means of employment. Now my car is in this condition, and I have no other way to provide for my family," said Mohamad Ghulam, a taxi driver.
The airstrikes destroyed a house, killing four members of a single family. More than a dozen other households in the area reported their homes either fully or partially destroyed.
One of the victims was 22-year-old Hedayatullah, who had just been married. He was killed alongside his pregnant wife, as well as his brother and sister.
"Hedayatullah got married nine months ago. His brother was 18 years old. He himself was 22 years old, he also had a 12-year-old sister, and his wife was about 19 years old and was pregnant," said Ghulam Sakhi, a relative of the victims.
"This neighbor of ours was a family of five. Their mother was not present at the moment of the bombardment, but the rest of them lost their lives. It was Hedayatuallah's family. From my own family, two of my daughters, my sister-in-law, my brother, and two nieces got injured," said Mohamad Homayoun, a survivor.
In the past weeks, scores of people from both sides have been killed or injured in the conflict between Afghanistan and neighboring Pakistan, according to officials from the two countries.
The United Nations mission in Afghanistan has called for an immediate halt to cross-border clashes, warning that the escalating violence is driving a surge in civilian casualties and deepening a humanitarian crisis.
At least 6 killed, more than a dozen wounded in Pakistani airstrikes on Afghanistan: officials
