People in Kashmir and Drass shiver under bitterly cold weather

Srinagar, Dec 2 (UNI) People in the Kashmir valley and Drass, the second coldest place in the world, continued to shiver under freezing cold because of a drop in temperature, resulting in disruption of normal life.

Meanwhile, the body of a Kashmiri teacher, who was buried under a snow avalanche at Zero point on Srinagar-Leh national highway on November 25, could not be recovered because of one feet of snowfall and continued bad weather.

A weather office spokesman said the minimum temperature was recorded minus 0.5 degree in the Kashmir valley.

People continued to shiver in the valley because of dry weather for the past two weeks after a light to heavy snowfall on the upper reaches resulting in a drop in the temperature in the plains.

To escape the cold, people were seen lighting bonfires by the roadside in the city. However, students alleged that there was no heating arrangment in the class rooms. The scene in the examination centres was not encouraging either as students taking university and board examinations complained of no heatig arrangment.

A report from Drass said the minimum temperature was recorded minus eight degrees resulting in severe cold forcing people to remain indoors.

Meanwhile, a massive operation was going on to recover the body of a teacher who was buried under a snow avalanche at Zero point on the Srinagar-Leh national highway on November 25.

Rescue teams from the army, police and villagers of Pandras and Matayen, which have been searching the area for the past one week, failed to recover the body.

The body of another teacher, who was also buried under the snow in the same area, has been recovered and laid to rest in south Kashmir.

About 40 people, on way to Srinagar from Kargil, were caught in a snowstorm on the highway on November 25. However, 38 were rescued while two died.

The highway has been closed for six winter months from November 15 after a heavy snowfall at Gumri, Shaitan Nullah, Zojila and Sonmarg.

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