Avalanches struck two villages in a remote area in Pakistan-controlled Kashmir, killing at least five people and leaving 40 missing, a senior police official said Saturday. Several mud-brick homes were buried by the snow late Friday in villages around Neelum valley, 100 kilometers (60 miles) northeast of Muzaffarabad, the capital of Pakistan's portion of Kashmir, said Taher Mahmood Quereshi, a senior police officer in the area. He said relief workers and police recovered at least five bodies buried in one village, but were struggling to reach another nearby village, where an avalanche had buried several homes. "According to our information, about 40 people, including women and children, were living in those homes. We have no idea whether they are dead or alive," he said.
