Record snowfall halts life in Kashmir

A Kashmiri man walks in a street of Srinagar covered by snow yesterday. Heavy snowfall since February 19 killed 105 people in Kashmir and left scores of others missing. PHOTO: AFP

The death toll from avalanches in Indian Kashmir since Saturday rose to 105 after another 25 bodies were recovered Monday from four villages in southern Anantnag district, officials said.

A police spokesman in the summer capital Srinagar said the bodies were recovered in the villages of Waltingo, Kund, Kapran and Nigeennard.

"It took rescue teams some eight hours to reach the affected villages," he said.

Earlier, police had said 31 bodies were found Monday in Verinag and four in Poonch districts, in the rugged south of the Himalayan territory. Four more bodies were also recovered Monday in other areas.

As of Sunday night, 41 bodies had been recovered from various parts of the region.

Scores of people are missing after the heaviest snowfall in two decades caused the avalanches and brought the region to a near-halt, the officials said.

Army rescue and medical teams were searching for survivors.

"The death toll could be higher as we are losing hope for the missing," a police officer said.

A 65-year-old woman was rescued Monday two days after an avalanche buried her house in southern Poonch district.

Hanifa Begum was under the snow for 50 hours after the avalanche hit on Saturday, the army said in a statement, adding she was suffering from frost bite.

The weekend deaths take the toll in two weeks of heavy snow to 86, including 19 soldiers, and 50 people missing.

Police said more than 1,000 houses had been damaged by the snow so far.