Northwest witnesses rise in temp, 3 buried under snow in J

New Delhi, Feb 18 (UNI) At least three people were buried alive under a snow avalanche in north Kashmir in the past 24 hours, even as the northwestern parts of the country witnessed appreciable rise in temperatures providing respite from a prolonged spell of cold wave.

Official sources said three people were buried under an avalanche when they were collecting firewood at Mochi Naka in Uri sector of Jammu and Kashmir.

The nationwide toll in the winter stood at 235 with 141 deaths in Uttar Pradesh, 38 in Jammu and Kashmir, 26 in Gujarat, 16 in Himachal Pradesh, four each in Bihar and Punjab, three in Maharashtra and one each in Bihar, Sikkim and Madhya Pradesh.

The bodies of two soldiers and four porters, who were buried alive under the snow avalanche in the same sector of the state on January 8, were also recovered after 40-days.

In Punjab and Haryana, the minimum tempratures hovered below normal by one degree to three degrees Celsius as the sun shone clear and bright at most places in the region.

Several areas in the region experienced fog in the morning, which reduced the visibility to zero at Sarsawa and beyond 500 metres at Palam( Delhi), 600 metres at Sirsa and 800 metres at Ambala and Suratgarh.

In Punjab, Amritsar recorded the minimum temperature at 4.9, followed by Patiala at 6.6 and Ludhiana 6.9 degrees Celsius.

In Haryana the minimum settled at 6.0 at Karnal, 6.5 at Narnaul, 6.6 at Ambala, 8.7 at Rohtak and 10.3 degrees at Hissar.

In Himachal Pradesh mercury increased even as cold wave continued unabated in the tribal areas of the state. Bhuntar and Una recorded the minimum temperatures at 3.6, Sundernagar 4.8, Dharamsala 7.1 and Nahan 11.4 degrees Celsius.

Icy-cold winds blew across Shimla and its adjoining areas with the capital town recording the night temperature at 4.3 degrees.

Kalpa in Kinnaur tribal district registered the minimum temperature at minus 5.0 degrees.

Chandigarh recorded the minimum temperature to 7.4 degrees.

In the national capital the minimum rose to 9.8 while the maximum was recorded at 25.8 degrees Celsius continuing the upward movement of temperature.

In Bihar the temperature continued to rise in the state capital as the day's minimum was recorded at 11.7 while the maximum at 26 degrees.

In West Bengal the minimum and maximum temperature at the state capital was recorded at 17.4 and 30.6 degrees Celsius respectively.

Rain or thundershowers have occurred at isolated places in Assam and Meghalaya, Jammu and Kashmir and Kerala. Mainly dry weather prevailed in Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram, Tripura, West Bengal and Sikkim, Orissa, Jharkhand, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Haryana, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan, Gujarat ,Konkan, Goa, Madhya Maharashtra, Marathwada, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka.

Cold wave conditions prevailed at isolated places in Jharkhand and south Gujarat.

UNI TEAM SP RS1855