SRINAGAR, Jan 17 (1995): At least 36 people, including 10 policemen, have been killed in two days of avalanches after heavy snow on the Srinagar-Jammu national highway, the Press Trust of India reported on Tuesday.
The news agency said that in the worst incident 26 people were killed when their vehicle was swept into a 1,500-foot (450 metre) gorge by an avalanche at the Jawahar tunnel.
PTI said six paramilitary Jammu and Kashmir police were killed when their police post was swept away by another avalanche on the southwest side of the tunnel.
Eight other policemen caught in the avalanche were rescued.
PTI gave no details as to how four other policemen had been killed.
It said rescue teams had evacuated 1,500 people from the area, and a number of vehicles, including freight trucks and passenger buses were stranded along the road because of landslides and avalanches.