At least 100 killed in Kashmir avalanches as girl, 12, is rescued 18 hours after being trapped under snow

Tim Baker15 January 2020

At least 100 people have been killed in recent weather-related incidents in Kashmir, with dozens left trapped after avalanches.

Pakastani troops pulled out 21 people from the snow after homes were destroyed and communities buried in the Himalayan region.

There was some hope as a 12-year-old girl was pulled after being trapped in her house, which had become covered in snow, for 18 hours.

Samina Bibi said she was screaming and shouting from the room she was trapped in.

A girl injured in the avalanches is treated in hospital
AP

Her mother, Shahnaz Bib, had already lost a son and a daughter and finding her 12-year-old was miraculous.

"I thought I would die there,” Samina said from her hospital bed.”

Funeral prayers being offered by locals
AFP via Getty Images

Shahnaz said "we didn't hear a rumble," as she recalled the moments before the avalanche buried the three-storey house where she and her family were sheltering with others from the village. At least 18 of them died.

Pakistan's National Disaster Management Authority said the total number of deaths in snow-hit areas in Pakistan over the last couple of days had jumped to 100. More heavy snowfall is expected in the region from Friday.

Another 10 people were killed in the Indian part of the Kashmir valley.

Authorities and locals search for people trapped by the snow
AP

Kashmir has been divided between India and Pakistan since their independence in 1947.

In 2012, an avalanche engulfed a Pakistani army headquarters near the Indian border, killing at least 124 soldiers and 11 civilians.

Avalanches are common in Kashmir, which is divided between Pakistan and India and claimed by both in its entirety.

In Afghanistan, the situation was returning to normal on Wednesday, following days-long heavy snowfall, rains and flash floods that killed 39 people and damaged about 300 homes there since Sunday.

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