The cyclone, packing windspeeds of up to 130 kilometres (81 miles) per hour, lashed at least five districts of Assam late Tuesday, killing at least 44 people and injuring about 2,000.

Troops and civil workers searching through debris of flattened houses found three more bodies Thursday, while one person injured in the tempest died, an official said.

The worst affected was Assam's Dhubri district, bordering Bangladesh, some 300 kilometres (185 miles) from the state capital Guwahati.

"We recovered bodies of at least three people stuck in trees after the cyclone blew them away," said N. Dutta, police officer in the district's Mancachar area, where about 2,000 houses were flattened in eight villages.

Another official said villagers told him cows had been tossed in the air by the winds.

Nazrul Islam, an executive magistrate in Mancahcar, told AFP by telephone the death toll had risen to 44.

"One person with serious head injuries died in a hospital, while the bodies of three persons who were reported missing were found under mounds of rubble early Thursday morning," he said.

A mass cremation of 30 people had taken place late Wednesday and further cremations would take place Thursday, he added.

"Most of the bodies were highly decomposed when the cremation took place," said Islam.

The magistrate said a number of people are still missing.

"The death toll might increase with rescue workers likely to find more bodies," he said, adding that the chances of survival of some of the critically injured were "remote."

Meanwhile, rescue workers, including soldiers, have intensified relief work in the area.

"Army medical and rescue teams have been working in the area on a war footing. We are also providing rations to the affected people," army spokesman Major Jaideep Ghosh told AFP.

Hundreds of villagers whose homes have been damaged by the cyclone were taking shelter in makeshift tarpaulin sheds.

"Medical teams are working overtime, treating hundreds of people for wounds ranging from minor cuts and bruises to severe head injuries," Assam Health Minister Bhumidhar Barman told AFP.

Many people are still searching for their family members two days after the cyclone struck.

"A 30-year-old mother is frantically looking for her four-year-old son. The family was huddled together trying to escape the cyclone but once their hut collapsed it was all chaos and her son got lost," a police official said.

The meteorological office Thursday warned of more thunderstorms with higher wind speeds in the coming days.

SPACE.WIRE