The disaster struck in Badakhshan province in the far north, but harsh weather and the remoteness of the region bordering China, Pakistan and Tajikistan meant it took many days for help to arrive.

"An avalanche swept through five houses in Arghanj Khowa district killing 35 people including men, women and children," said provincial spokesman Marouf Rasikh.

"Two representatives of the district reached the provincial capital after travelling for 13 days on snow-blocked roads and they informed us of the incident last night."

The avalanche hit on March 2, but it was a week before the villagers were able to set out to find help.

Village elders had been meeting to discuss a local issue when the avalanche hit, burying the house they were in, said district chief Sayed Abdul Kabir Mutawakil.

About 500 farm animals were also killed in the avalanche, Rasikh said, adding that the area was still covered in about three metres (ten feet) of snow, hampering rescue efforts and attempts to bury the dead.

"Snow closes roads and leaves many villages isolated every winter," he said.

"An emergency committee is meeting here tomorrow with NATO forces to see if we can offer any help with helicopters."

NATO and the US have more than 120,000 troops based in Afghanistan -- some at bases in the north -- fighting a Taliban-led insurgency.

Because of its isolation, Badakhshan -- which also emcompasses the storied Wakhan Corridor -- has been largely left out of the violence, but is a known route for smuggling opium and heroin into Tajikistan.

The Arghanj Khowa district is part of Darwaz, on the northernmost tip of Afghanistan bordering the former Soviet state of Tajikistan.

Russian authorities have said that 30,000 Russians died in 2009 from using heroin which came from Afghanistan.

District chief Mutawakil said many of the 32,000 people received food aid and that while few were involved in producing poppies, opium addiction was a problem.

The region is one of Afghanistan's poorest, with most people relying on farming for survival.

Many parts of mountainous Afghanistan are vulnerable to avalanches, but such high tolls are unusual.

However, in early February, 170 people were killed when massive avalanches hit the Salang Pass, a treacherous stretch through the Hindu Kush mountain range connecting the north and south of Afghanistan.

The pass provides the shortest route linking the two ends of the mountainous country. One of the highest mountain highways in the world, it was built with Soviet help in the 1950s and was hailed as an engineering feat upon completion.

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