Five of family found dead, heaviest snowfall cuts off Kashmir from rest of country

Five members of a family allegedly died of suffocation in Srinagar after using a heater in their closed room as the Kashmir Valley remained cut off from the rest of the country on Saturday. Both surface as well as aerial connectivity to the valley was disrupted due to heavy snowfall which threw life out of gear.

Most places in Kashmir, including plains of the valley, received moderate to heavy snowfall overnight, officials of the MeT Department said.

The snowfall, which began in the late afternoon on Friday, continued in most parts of the valley this morning, they said, adding it is one of the heaviest snowfalls in the recent years in the plains of Kashmir.

Srinagar recorded 10 inches of snowfall till 8:30 in the morning and the famous ski-resort of Gulmarg in north Kashmir recorded two feet of fresh snow. While Qazigund recorded 11 inches, Kokernag three inches, Pahalgam 16 inches and Kupwara 17 inches of snow, the officials said.

An official of the airport said the flight which lands at the airport at 9 am was cancelled due to poor visibility because of the snowfall.

"So far, no air traffic has been possible at the Srinagar airport," he said.

He said the decision to operate other flights will be taken by the airliners and the air traffic control if there is any improvement in the conditions.

The snowfall has also disrupted normal life and affected the movement of people and transport in Srinagar city and other districts of the valley.

However, road clearance operations have been undertaken by the respective district administrations across the valley since the morning.

Most areas of have valley have been without electricity since last night, the officials said.

Owing to the snowfall, the night temperature in the valley rose last night providing relief to the residents from the intense cold conditions.

The mercury in Srinagar city, which had recorded a low of minus 3.2 degrees Celsius on the previous night, settled at a low of minus 1.3 degrees Celsius Friday night.

Five family members - two women, one man and two children - were found dead in their rented accommodation in Bemina area, police said.

“The apparent cause of death appears to be asphyxiation but this will only be ascertained after medical examination,” a police officer said, adding that the family was from Kupwara, as per IANS.

The Jammu region saw isolated spells of heavy rain and snow while the met department forecast widespread rain in Jammu.

Besides Rajouri and Poonch, the Vaishno Devi hills received snowfall and helicopter and cable car services at the hilltop shrine in Reasi district were stopped temporarily, Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board CEO Simrandeep Singh said.

Jammu city had 8.6, Katra 6.4, Batote minus 1.3, Bannihal 0.3 and Bhaderwah minus 0.2 as the night’s lowest temperatures.

(With agency inputs)