Dozens of people were missing in the Himalayan region in what Major General Raj Mehta called "an unprecedented crisis."

"People living in higher reaches must vacate before they're overtaken by tragedy," Mehta told reporters in the snowbound main city, Srinagar.

The army, backed by police and paramilitary forces and civilian volunteers, battled high winds and poor visibility as they raced against time to find survivors from avalanches that struck southern Kashmir over the past four days.

But a police officer in Srinagar said officials were losing hope for the missing buried under snow in six villages which were flattened by weekend avalanches, amid below-zero temperatures.

Police and army officials said a total of 175 people had died in the past four days, 172 of them in the weekend snowslides. The air force flew flights to search for the missing and drop food packages.

Air Force Group Captain Manavandera Singh said 1,700 people including 40 foreign tourists had been airlifted to safety.

A new avalanche Tuesday morning struck the Rangamunda area, 80 kilometers (50 miles) south of Srinagar, killing three people and leaving six missing.

Mehta warned that warmer temperatures expected in the next few days would melt the snow surface and could unleash fresh avalanches.

Dozens of hamlets at altitudes of 8,000 to 10,000 feet (2,424 meters to some 90 kilometers (40 miles) from Srinagar were at risk from new snowslides, he said.

The number of people affected by the army's call to leave was not immediately known. But authorities planned to set up emergency shelters in concrete public buildings for people to take refuge for the next 10 to 15 days.

"Each hill has become loaded with snow and just walking can trigger avalanches," Mehta said. Up to 17 feet (five meters) of snow has blanketed the region since Thursday, weather officials said.

Kashmir has a massive army presence as the Indian government is seeking to suppress a bloody 15-year-old revolt against New Delhi's rule.

Mehta said only 78 were officially listed as missing. But government officials said it was impossible to give a firm figure for the number of dead and missing.

"It's an enormous tragedy. The number of dead may be higher as many areas are still inaccessible. We've mobilised all resources to rescue survivors," senior state government official Nayeem Akhtar told AFP.

A police officer in Srinagar, who did not wish to be named, told AFP the total number of people unaccounted for amounted to "several hundred."

Mehta said the army only learnt of one weekend avalanche after a shepherd walked 20 hours in snow to inform an army post.

Some searchers who had reached avalanche-hit areas were using tracker dogs to search for life.

So far, some 203 people have died in two weeks of heavy snow in Kashmir, including 19 soldiers. The toll was the worst since 1996 when over 230 people, most of them Hindu devotees, were killed when avalanches swept a pilgrimage route to a shrine high in the Himalayas.

The army dug out two civilians overnight from Waltingo village.

Srinagar, Kashmir's largest city with 725,000 people, was without power for a fifth day. "We're freezing in cold. There's no electricity. We pray this ends soon," said Aisha Begum, 82, huddled under blankets.

The heavy snow cut road and air links to the state, resulting in food shortages in some northern parts. Air force planes were ferrying fuel, vegetables and milk to Srinagar.

Some 1,500 motorists and truckers stranded on a snowbound main highway between Srinagar and the winter capital Jammu were in emergency shelters.

Another 311 people including troops and truck drivers were sheltering inside Jawahar Tunnel on the main highway, Mehta said. Helicopters had dropped food packets that were enough to last 15 days.

All rights reserved. � 2005 Agence France-Presse. Sections of the information displayed on this page (dispatches, photographs, logos) are protected by intellectual property rights owned by Agence France-Presse. As a consequence, you may not copy, reproduce, modify, transmit, publish, display or in any way commercially exploit any of the content of this section without the prior written consent of Agence France-Presse.

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