India quake death toll at 656
2005-10-10 13:03
New Delhi - The confirmed earthquake death toll reached 656 in India's Jammu and Kashmir state on Monday with the number of injured rising to 990, said the federal home ministry.
Some 50 army soldiers and border security force troops were among the dead, the ministry announced.
The majority of the deaths were recorded in the Kashmir valley with just 17 outside in the Jammu sector further south.
Senior officials have repeatedly warned that the casualty toll is likely to climb as the army, spearheading rescue operations, reaches the most isolated villagers in the Himalayan mountains.
More than 300 people died in the worst hit area, Uri, close to the de facto border with Pakistan.
A senior Jammu and Kashmir state government official said 54 soldiers had died when a border post caved in and the same number had been injured, he said.
The overall toll also includes 54 labourers hired to build roads for the Indian army, he said asking not to be named.
"Most of them died when a truck carrying them was hit by boulders let loose by the earthquake," the official said.
He said the bodies of some of the labourers were recovered from a ravine.
According to initial estimates say over 5 000 homes collapsed in Indian Kashmir after Saturday morning's earthquake, which registered 7.6 on the Richter scale.
Nearly 20 000 died in Pakistan where the quake had its epicentre.
- AFP