Heavy snow in Kyrgyzstan leaves four people frozen to death

Surprise snowfall traps at least 2,000 sheep - Many farmers have not yet harvested half of their crop.

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Heavy snowfall in the north of the country suddenly overwhelmed the area, said the Ministry of Emergency Situations. The heavy snowfall trapped many the shepherds and one of them froze to death. Three homeless people also froze to death in the capital Bishkek.

The country's north and south Bishkek-Osh highway was closed due to heavy snowfall in the mountains.

This was reported in the press service of the Ministry of Emergency Situations of the Kyrgyz Republic on Friday

In the Suzak district of Jalal-Abad region, 12 vehicles with 60 people traveling from the city of Jalal-Abad village Kazarman, could not pass and got stuck..

According to a decree of akim Toguz Torouzskogo district, Jalal-Abad highway - Kazarman will now remain closed for the passage of vehicles from October 8 until the spring of 2015.

First snow surprised the shepherds

Eight shepherds in the Besh Moinok and Turk-Abad Suzak district, Jalal-Abad region, with flocks of two thousand sheep, were trapped in the snow. According to the MOE, the shepherds were stuck on the pass because of the snow drifts.

Press secretary of MOE Anara Mambetalieva says one man died from hypothermia. The body has not yet been delivered to the village.

Due to severe weather conditions the helicopter could not fly

As soon as the information was received, an MI-8 helicopter was ready to go. But due to the weather conditions, it was able to take off until the middle of the day, October 9.

The 52-year-old man who died from hypothermia was a shepherd. It is reported that the health of the other shepherds is satisfactory.

Not yet calculated the damage, including how cattle were lost

Fallen snow also brought a lot of problems farmers Talas region, bean producers. According to local authorities, 27 percent of the crop is left in the snow. Many farmers have not yet managed to collect half of their crop.

Most of the farmers have not had time to harvest. For example, from our village all the beans remained under the snow.

And there are cases where in some areas the root crops remain unharvested. For example, a resident of Chon-Alay district of Osh region Azamat said that in the snow covered the potatoes

Thanks to Argiris Diamantis for these links, (1) (2) (3) and (4)

"I understand that the shepherd who died in the snow could not be rescued sooner because the helicopter could not take off because of heavy snowfall," says Argiris. "How many sheep have died is not known yet, but I don't have a good feeling about it. Again there is mentioned that a lot of crop could not be harvested.

"Of course the MSM in the Netherlands do not report this kind of news."