The dead included at least five foreign tourists whose nationalities were not immediately known.
Bhim Sen Tuti, the region’s police chief, said “Their bodies are lying on a trekking route outside Leh town, and efforts are on to retrieve the bodies.” Authorities until Saturday maintained that no foreign tourists were among the dead or injured.
About 2,000 foreign tourists were in Ladakh, a popular destination for adventure sports enthusiasts, when the storm hit on Friday, burying homes and toppling power and telecommunication towers.
Authorities were arranging special flights to fly the tourists to New Delhi from Leh on Sunday. Tuti also said at least 500 Indians were missing.
“There may be more people missing because of the vastness of the area.” Thousands of army, police and paramilitary soldiers were clearing roads to reach isolated villages in the Ladakh region cut off by Friday’s powerful thunderstorms, state police Chief Kuldeep Khoda said.
The injured were being treated at an army hospital and several makeshift clinics in and around Leh, the worst-hit town, Khoda said.
Officials said the missing people included 28 army soldiers.
Rescuers still had not reached about 5,000 people in Choglamsar, a village on Leh’s outskirts, because of mudslides blocking the road, police officer Nawang Tsering said.
Mohammed Deen Khan, a social activist who tried to reach the village on Saturday, said the mud was about 15 feet high in some places. He said authorities were facing a shortage of bulldozers and heavy earth movers.
About 100 stranded foreign tourists, mostly Europeans, were evacuated from Pang village northeast of Leh, army spokesman Lt. Col. J.S. Brar said in Srinagar.
