At least 20 people, including children, have drowned when a boat sank during a river crossing in Afghanistan’s eastern Nangarhar province, according to local officials.

Quraishi Badloon, the head of Nangarhar province’s information department, said in a post on X that the vessel capsized at 7am (02:30 GMT) on Saturday “in the river in the Basawul area of Momand Dara district”.

He added that the boat was carrying 25 people, according to village residents, of whom five survived. The cause of the accident was being investigated.

The Nangarhar health department said in a statement that so far five bodies have been retrieved, including a man, a woman, two boys and a girl.

Efforts were still under way to find other others while a medical team and ambulances were sent to the area, it added.

Residents of the area frequently use locally made boats to travel between villages and local markets due to the absence of a bridge, according to Afghan media.

Hundreds of people have been killed in Afghanistan in recent weeks due to heavy rain triggering massive flooding across different parts of the country.