9 killed in fresh J&K avalanches

JAMMU/SRINAGAR: Nine people including seven engaged in clearing roads were killed as snowstorms triggered avalanches from Patnitop to Banihal in Jammu and Kashmir on Saturday.
The Kashmir Valley was cut off from the rest of the country after the heaviest snowfall in the last 15 years led to the closure of the Srinagar-Jammu highway and cancellation of all incoming and outgoing flights from Srinagar airport.
Two to seven feet of snow has covered the entire Valley since Friday, while the Vaishno Devi pilgrimage has been suspended. Two feet of snow was recorded in Srinagar till noon when it was still snowing heavily. Two workers clearing the Kargil-Leh Road were buried under snow while two others were rescued when an avalanche hit Kangdoola in Ladakh region on Saturday morning. Two persons were killed at Shalipora village in Anantnag district
because of avalanches.
Three avalanches — two in Jammu region and one in Kashmir — were reported on Saturday. The toll is likely to go up as some areas are inaccessible. The police wireless system has broken down. Due to the snowstorm in Doda, 15 houses were buried. Thirty-five people were rescued at Nowapada village in Doda. Five Beacon project personnel, who went missing after a snowslide hit them at Jawahar Tunnel on Friday, could not be traced. Sources said all of them were
feared killed.
The unprecedented snowfall led to breakdown of power and water supply and telephonic communication. The inter-district bus service was hit badly as the authorities closed many roads fearing more avalanches. Bus services in Anantnag and Pulwama in south, Baramulla and Kupwara in north and Badgam in central Kashmir were hit by the day-long snowfall. A massive snowslide hit Nag village of Keran in Kupwara district, damaging six houses. Twenty-seven houses were damaged at Shopian, Pahalgam, Tral, Anantnag and Qazigund in south Kashmir and one each at Barzulla and Kangan in Srinagar.