Wedding party feared dead after bus carrying 50 people washed away during torrential rains and landslides in Kashmir

Bride and groom among the missing after their bus was

washed away following the accident 100 miles from

Srinagar

Heavy rains caused the worst floods in the region for 22

years with the deluge expected to continue for two days

At least 100 villages hit by torrential rains with than 5,000

people have been evacuated from Srinagar

A bus carrying more than 50 wedding guests was swept away

by a flooded stream in the Indian-held portion of Kashmir and

all but three of the passengers are missing, officials said.

Police officer Rajesh Kumar said the three swam to safety and

told rescuers that about 50 others were trapped in the bus.

Rescuers were searching for the bus but have not been able to

locate it in the gushing waters. New landslides and heavy rains

blocked access to the area, Mr Kumar said.

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Locals in Srinagar in Indian controlled Kashmir battle to save

the life of this woman who is at risk of being washed away in

fast-moving flood water 

 Some people were forced to take refuge on the roof of their

home as the flood waters continued to rise following the

worst rains in the past 22 years

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Within a matter of minutes, the flood waters rose up to chest

height, forcing the evacuation of large areas of Srinagar with

more than 5,000 people fleeing to safety

Officials earlier said the bus was carrying about 70 people.

'There is a lot of confusion,' Mr Kumar said.

The Press Trust of India news agency said the bride and

bridegroom were among the missing people who were

returning home from a wedding ceremony in a village in the

Rajouri region, about 110 miles south west of Srinagar, the

main city in the Indian-held portion of Kashmir.

The region's wedding season has been disrupted by heavy

rains and the worst floods in 22 years, and many ceremonies

have been postponed. 

At least 18 people have died in the past two days, and

authorities have closed schools and stopped train services in

the Kashmir valley. Meteorologists said the heavy rains were

likely to continue for another two days.

Police officer Imtiyaz Hussain said the 18 victims were swept

away by floodwaters or buried by mud from mountain slopes -

14 in the Jammu region and four in the Kashmir valley. They

included a paramilitary officer whose bunker collapsed on him. 

Soldiers and rescue workers used boats to move thousands of

people to higher ground. At least 100 villages across the

Kashmir valley were flooded by overflowing lakes and rivers,

including the Jhelum river, which was up to four feet above its

danger level, officials said.

Landslides and floods are common in India during the

monsoon season, which runs from June through September.

Parts of Srinagar were also flooded. In Bemina, a large

neighbourhood, thousands of residents waded through ankle-

high water that entered their homes.

Authorities evacuated 5,000 people from the neighbourhood

and 100 others were believed to be stranded there.

Kashmir is divided between India and Pakistan and claimed by

both. They have fought three wars, two of them over control

of Kashmir, since winning independence from Britain in 1947  

Two Indian Army soldiers patrol a submerged street in

Srinagar, India careful to keep their Kalashnikov assault rifles

out of the filthy flood water

A policeman stands guard outside the Hajj House in Srinagar

in the middle of the worst floods to hit the region over the

past 22 years according to local officials 

Some of those fleeing to safety used small boats in a bid to

avoid getting too wet in a rescue operation overseen by the

Indian Army