Thousands stranded in snowfall-hit Kashmir

A police spokesman said nine deaths occurred through rain-related incidents, such as house collapses, in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, where another seven people were injured and traffic disrupted.

The bad weather also brought unexpected winter rains to the national capital New Delhi and heavy snow to Indian Kashmir.

On Monday, seven troopers were killed when avalanches smashed into their mountain barracks at Jawahar Tunnel, in southern Indian-administered Kashmir. Several other members are still missing.

A police officer told AFP that around 3,000 people were stranded Tuesday between Jawahar Tunnel and Ramban, a 50-km stretch of the zig-zag highway connecting the summer capital Srinagar with Jammu, the winter capital.

A passenger on a bus thrown by the snow into a deep Kashmiri gorge died of hypothermia, police said. The passenger's frozen body was found inside the bus.