Thousands of people were stranded on a key highway in Indian occupied Kashmir on Saturday after the heaviest snowfall in 15 years blocked roads, uprooted trees and snapped power and phone lines, authorities said. All flights connecting occupied Srinagar were cancelled for the second day on Saturday due to bad weather, they said. "Continuous snowfall on the Jammu-Srinagar highway is hampering road clearing and rescue operations," a senior traffic police officer told Reuters. "More than 3,500 people are stranded."

The 300-km (185-mile) Srinagar-Jammu highway connects the occupied Kashmir valley with Jammu, and the rest of India to its south. It has remained closed since Thursday due to heavy snowfall.

Copyright Reuters, 2005