Death Toll in Kashmir Avalanches Jumps to 110

[senorpepr]

SRINAGAR, India (Reuters) - Rescuers on Monday dug out dozens of bodies buried by avalanches in Indian Kashmir, taking the death toll to 110 after the worst snows in two decades swept the Himalayan region.

Most of the dead were villagers from southern Anantnag district, whose homes were slammed by walls of snow on Sunday, police said.

The bodies of four road workers killed by a separate avalanche on the main highway linking Kashmir with the outside world were found and two more workers are missing.

"At least 200 people are missing in the avalanche-hit villages," Inspector General Javid Makhdomi told state-run Doordarshan TV.

The state was snowed under for the fourth day, largely cut off from the rest of India with flights canceled, roads blocked and power and phones disrupted.

"The army has started moving into the village and will soon start rescue operations," army spokesman Lieutenant Colonel V.K. Batra said of Sidhnag, in south Kashmir, where 10 people are dead and four missing.

The army, which has a large presence in the heavily militarized state, said about 15 feet of snow had fallen on parts of the highway linking the Kashmir Valley with the winter capital, Jammu, in the south and troops were providing food and shelter to about 2,000 stranded travelers.

Air force helicopters dropped food to stranded people.

RARE GOOD NEWS

The weather office said no snowfall was expected for the next two days. Authorities have evacuated around 1,500 passengers from the main highway in the past two days.

Usually hundreds of vehicles make the 185-mile journey to and from Jammu every day carrying food and fuel.

Srinagar residents complained of shortages of cooking gas, vegetables and milk as the road was closed for a sixth day.

"There is no water or electricity. This is the first time in 20 years I've seen something like this," said Ghulam Rasool.

Locals queued for water from tankers sent by the government.

At least 10 air force helicopters ferried 40 tons of vegetables and other essentials to Srinagar from Jammu.

"There is no food, no water left now. People are in a miserable condition," Gowhar Ahmad, a local journalist stranded on the highway, told Reuters by phone.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=s ... kashmir_dc