Subject:Fwd: Kashmir rescue halted by weather, 35 bodies found Date:Tue, 19 Mar 1996 10:04:19 -0500 Newsgroups:bit.listserv.fire-l From:Gil3413489@aol.com ----------------------------------------------------------- Forwarded message: From: NewsProfiles@aol.net Date: 96-03-19 03:55:20 EST --------------------- MUZAFFARABAD, Pakistan (Reuter) - Snow and rain forced authorities to suspend rescue operations Monday for people caught in an avalanche in Pakistani-held Kashmir which official sources said had killed at least 35 people. The sources said 35 bodies and four survivors had been found in the debris after the avalanche hit a remote mountain hamlet Friday night. The death toll could rise, they added. ``Heavy snow and rain are preventing military and civilian rescue teams from continuing their search,'' Mohammad Akram Sohail, deputy commissioner in the Azad (free) Kashmir capital Muzaffarabad, told Reuters. ``Helicopters could not fly to the area for the past three days because of snow and rain,'' he said. Officials had earlier said that 32 people were feared killed in the avalanche that buried seven houses in the mountain hamlet of Kala Lot in the Neelum Valley, about 94 miles northeast of Muzaffarabad, about midnight Friday. The rugged area is prone to heavy snowfalls and landslides. In December, 15 refugees from Indian-controlled Kashmir died when they were caught in a snowstorm in the Neelum Valley. Pakistani troops are heavily deployed in the Neelum Valley, guarding the cease-fire line that divides Azad Kashmir from the Indian-held part of the disputed Himalayan territory. REUTER -----------------------------------------------------------