Seven killed, including five policemen, in Jammu and Kashmir avalanche; rescue operations on

Kulgam: Seven bodies including that of five policemen have been recovered in Kulgam district near Jawahar tunnel on Srinagar-Jammu National Highway where an avalanche took place on Friday morning, said an official statement. One police personnel is still missing while two policemen who were rescued in the morning are stable now. The avalanche that hit a police post trapped 10 policemen under the debris of snow. Soon after receiving the information about the incident, a search and rescue operation began in the area, following which the operation team recovered the body of one policeman and rescued four persons from the police post. The region has been receiving continuous snowfall since Thursday which is obstructing the search and rescue operations. According to reports from Kinnaur’s Barang village, the snowfall has also damaged apple orchards adding to the woes of the farmers. An intense western disturbance has caused fresh snowfall in parts of Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh on Friday.