Kinnaur, Himachal Pradesh:
Fifteen houses were damaged and about three dozen Yaks killed in an avalanche which struck a remote village of Sangla Valley in Kinnaur on Tuesday.
The avalanche in Panpo Kanda village caused massive damage to property and animals but there was no loss of human life, Deputy Commissioner, Kinnaur, J M Pathania said.
About 38-40 Yaks were buried under avalanche and there was no hope of their survival, he said.
The district administration had sounded an alert warning of avalanche threat looming large over high altitude snowbound areas after heavy snowfall on January 18 and 19 and it struck on Tuesday damaging 15 houses and apple orchards.
In the past few weeks, over one thousand tribal families have been affected due to heavy snowfall and avalanche in Kinnaur which still remains cut off by road.
Pathania said heavy rocks on the road at Ralley, between Rampur and Recong Peo would take two to three days to clear and district administration has deployed heavy machinery for snow clearance.