An avalanche swept a hillside in mountainous Indian-controlled Kashmir on Monday, killing seven shepherds and injuring at least five others, a police spokesman said. The avalanche hit Hanjipora village, smashing the log cabins of the shepherds, known as Bakarwals, police officer Ghulam Mohi-ud-Din said. Police and soldiers pulled out seven bodies from deep snowdrifts and rescued at least five villagers all of whom had bones broken by falling debris, the Associated Press quoted the officer as saying. Fresh snowfall in the area since Sunday triggered the avalanche, Mohi-ud-Din said. Rescue workers were looking for more people buried under two meters (seven feet) of snow, he added. Hanjipora is about 90 kilometers (55 miles) south of Srinagar, the summer capital of India's Jammu-Kashmir state. In February, Kashmir saw the worst snowfall in 15 years which left 400 people dead. Frequent rain and snowfall in the Himalayan reaches have delayed the onset of summer in Kashmir this year, which usually begins in mid-May.
