Avalanche survivors give mass burial to relatives

VALTENGU, India -- Bashir Malik wishes he had not lived to see this day, when he buried all 13 members of his family in a mass grave.

They and 109 others in this mountain village in Kashmir were killed when an avalanche struck Sunday, sweeping away their homes. In a moment, almost a quarter of the villagers were killed.

"How I survived is a miracle. But what good is life for me now," Malik said Wednesday, his voice choking.

Malik, a 40-year-old teacher, lived with his wife, three children, two brothers and their wives and children. All 13 died. Malik said he survived because he had just stepped out of the house when the avalanche hit.

"There was a deafening rumbling. When I looked back everything was buried under snow," he said, staring at the heap of snow covering his collapsed home.

Avalanches and slides triggered by heavy snow struck across the Himalayan region over the weekend, killing nearly 300 people and leaving hundreds more missing.

Valtengu, 45 miles south of Srinagar, Indian Kashmir's main city, was hardest hit. Most bodies were only recovered Tuesday when volunteers reached the village.

On Wednesday, they dug pits for a mass burial because "there were so many dead bodies and it was impossible to bury them one by one," said Raj Wali, whose two daughters died.

"It was terrible. An ocean of snow swept everything away," said Wajid Ali, a 70-year-old herdsman who lost his two daughters and all his sheep and goats.

The snow, the worst in Kashmir in 15 years, cut off the Himalayan region from the rest of India for days.

Phone and power lines were snapped and roads remained blocked for days, slowing relief work.

In Valtengu, residents complained that the government provided no help. Some 200 civilian volunteers were doing the rescue work, said Mohammed Latif, resident of a nearby village.

"I and other volunteers were the first to reach here. No government help has reached yet," he said.

Elsewhere in Kashmir, military helicopters dropped food, medicine and blankets to snow-covered villages. Soldiers and paramilitary troops trekked to remote villages in the Pir Panjal mountain range, rescuing more than 100 people stranded in wooden houses covered by snow, said army Lt. Col. V.K. Batra.

Helicopters delivering aid to mountain villages could not land because of the heavy snow, and were not flying low for fear of triggering fresh avalanches, Batra said.

Forecasters said the worst of the weather appears to be over, but snow may continue falling for a few days. Officials said warmer temperatures increase the risk of avalanches.

The number of dead in Kashmir -- split between India and Pakistan -- climbed to 287 after rescue workers found 40 more bodies in avalanche-hit villages and three people died in a remote forest after being stranded in a log hut for four days.

In India's portion of Kashmir, 229 people have been killed since Friday, with 150 others missing. On the Pakistan side, officials said at least 64 people have died in the past two weeks, most of them in avalanches.

Large parts of Pakistan have reported record precipitation, including the heaviest snow in southwestern Baluchistan province in 13 years, with 346 people dying nationwide this season.

The cold weather also has hit neighboring Afghanistan, where at least 260 people have perished, the Red Cross said.

Canada's ambassador to Afghanistan, Christopher Alexander, said several thousand may have died, highlighting the poverty of Afghans and their government's weakness three years after the fall of the Taliban. The U.S. military and international aid groups have helped rush provisions to isolated communities.

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Associated Press reporters Mujtaba Ali Ahmad in Srinagar and Roshan Mughal in Muzzafarabad, Pakistan, contributed to this report.