Hundreds Dead After Heavy Rains Hit Kashmir

Nearly 300 people have died in widespread floods that have hit a remote mountain region that straddles India and Pakistan.

Five days of incessant rain led to landslides, submerged villages and resulted in the main city in India-administered Kashmir being inundated.

It was the worst monsoon flooding in more than five decades to fall on the mountainous region, which lies on the edge of the Himalayas.

Authorities said about 120 died in the India-controlled part of the region and more than 160 people in neighbouring Pakistan.

Srinagar in Indian-controlled Kashmir is under up to four metres of water

Kashmir is divided between India and Pakistan, but is claimed entirely by both countries.

Rescuers in both countries used helicopters and boats to reach tens of thousands of stranded people.

Some parts of Srinagar, the main city in India-controlled Kashmir, are said to be under four metres (13ft) of water.

Srinagar resident Ghulam Nabi said: "I'm in my 80s and I've never seen floods like this.

"If this is how it is in my neighbourhood, I cannot imagine the devastation in other areas."

Boats were used to help rescue people trapped in their homes

More than 200 patients had to be moved to higher levels of Indian Kashmir's main maternity hospital after floodwaters entered the ground floor.

Ghulam Ahmad Bhat, director of fire and emergency services in Srinagar, said: "Police, fire and other emergencies services are trying their best but the flood water, the damage is so widespread that no matter how much we try, we fail."

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi used a helicopter to observe the flood-hit areas and promised help to deal with the devastation.

Officials said that at least 450 villages have been submerged and 2,000 others have been affected by the floodwaters across Indian Kashmir.

In neighbouring Pakistan, officials said more than 4,000 homes had collapsed and 5,000 people had been rescued since Thursday.

The Kashmir region straddles India and Pakistan (borders are disputed)

A further 286 villages had been hit by flooding in Pakistan-administered Punjab, said Ahmed Kamal, spokesman for Pakistan's National Disaster Management Authority.

When heavy monsoon rains hit another mountainous region of Pakistan in 2010, 1,700 people died and an area the size of Great Britain was flooded as the water moved downstream.

Pakistan-administered Kashmir also suffered a devastating earthquake in 2005 which killed 73,000 people.

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