SRINAGAR, India — At least 10 people were killed while over 600 were rescued when avalanches yesterday struck the Kashmir Valley in the wake of unprecedented snowfall in February.
Six members of a family were buried alive, when an avalanche rolled over their house in the mountainous Peth Hallan village near Kapran, 110 km south of Srinagar, yesterday morning.
Army and police rescue teams were sent to the area to look for survivors.
Police said three people including a woman were buried alive under another avalanche in the border town of Gurez in north Kashmir. “The body of Sitara Begum has been recovered from under tons of snow while search for the two others are still on,” said a police spokesman here.
The body of another man, Mohammad Shafi Chechi, was recovered from the debris of his house which was struck by an avalanche in the early hours of yesterday in the Gulab Bagh village of south Kashmir’s Kulgam district. Authorities rescued 32 people from the same village, who have been taken to the nearby Qazigund town and lodged in a government building.
Search teams of the army and police managed to reach the village in the afternoon despite heavy snowfall and poor visibility. The rescue operation was launched after the villagers sent distress messages to the local police station about their plight.
From the adjoining Waltengo Nar village, 600 people were rescued.
It has been snowing heavily in the valley for the past five days even though the weather showed signs of improvement in the afternoon. For the first time in four days, all scheduled flights landed at the Srinagar airport. However, the Srinagar-Jammu national highway remained blocked for the fifth day running.
