Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday said he felt "very pained" when Afghan President Ashraf Ghani told him about the deaths of school children in the devastating earthquake in his country.
Modi tweeted that he spoke to Ghani "and expressed my sympathies and condolences at the damage caused by the earthquake" which measured 7.5 on the Richter scale and whose epicentre lay in the Hindu Kush region.
Ghani "shared with me his initial assessment of the damage. I offered all possible assistance", Modi said.
"(He) told me due to the quake a school building collapsed and children lost their lives. I was very pained to hear this.
"When Ghani was telling me about the school (incident), my mind went back to a similar tragedy in Anjar, Kutch (Gujarat), in 2001. Felt very sad."
