Two persons were reported missing while as many rescued from the debris in a snow avalanche in Ganderbal district on Thursday, officials said.

The avalanche struck Gagangeer area on Srinagar-Kargil road, trapping the four civilians, the officials said.
Local residents and authorities swung into action and launched a search and rescue operation. Two persons were rescued while the search was on for those missing, they said.

Snow avalanches occur frequently in higher reaches of Kashmir during winter. At least a dozen people, including six soldiers, have lost lives in the avalanches this winter.

Meanwhile, the temperature dropped significantly at some places in Kashmir with Gulmarg being the coldest place in the Valley at minus 11 degrees Celsius, a meteorological department official said.

The valley is expected to witness mainly dry weather over the next seven days, he added. Gulmarg, the skiing resort in north Kashmir, recorded a minimum temperature of minus 11 degrees Celsius, a drop of four degrees over the last night, the official said.

Pahalgam in south Kashmir, which acts as the base camp for Amarnath yatra, recorded a low of minus 10.6 degrees Celsius, compared to minus 2.8 degrees Celsius the previous night, he said. The mercury settled at minus 0.8 degrees Celsius in Srinagar, the official said.

He said the mercury in Qazigund the gateway town to the valley in south Kashmir settled at a low of minus 1.3 degrees Celsius.
The night temperature in Kokernag, in south, settled at a low of minus 1.6 degrees Celsius while Kupwara, in north, recorded the minimum temperature at minus 3.7 degrees Celsius, he said.