India and Pakistan floods: Thousands still marooned
Hundreds of thousands of people remain stranded in India and many more have been warned to leave their homes in Pakistan amid some of the worst flooding in the region in decades.
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The death toll in the two countries has passed 450 with troops deployed to rescue people and provide relief. Officials say 400,000 people are stranded in Indian-administered Kashmir, where 200 people have died. In Pakistan, 254 people have died and thousands have been asked to evacuate.
Pakistan's Minister for Water and Power Khwaja Mohammad Asif was quoted by the Associated Press news agency as saying that some 700,000 people had been told to leave their homes, which could be inundated in the next four days.
At least 24 people have been killed and seven others were injured when the roof of a mosque collapsed on Tuesday after days of heavy rain in the city of Lahore, officials said.
"The ages of the worshipers who died are between 15 and 35 years. We have also taken out seven seriously injured people from the rubble," news agency AFP quoted Mohammed Rashid, an official at the rescue control room, as saying.
Hundreds of people are trying to leave Srinagar, the main city of Indian-administered Kashmir.
Hordes of tourists are trying to take flights out of the city's airport, while many migrant workers, who have no money to pay for tickets, are looking for free flights.
Although the rains have subsided, many areas of the city are still water-logged, including neighbourhoods around the Dal Lake.
Pick-up trucks packed with young men are going around neighbourhoods to rescue trapped people as many complain that the authorities are not doing enough. The main road to the city from the airport is still under water.
Some of the earth dykes which were holding the water back are now collapsing, releasing a new surge into farming villages where residents thought they would be untouched, our correspondent adds.
Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif said the floods were a "sad moment" for the country.
"These floods came suddenly and no one knew that such a large flood was coming," he told flood victims in Hafiz district on Tuesday.
Across the border, in Indian-administered Kashmir, thousands of stranded people have taken shelter on rooftops of their homes.
Although heavy rains have eased in the flood-ravaged valley, water levels in the Dal Lake in the city are reported to be rising and inundating neighbouring areas.
Using helicopters, boats and naval commandos, troops have retrieved more than 76,500 people in flood-affected areas of Kashmir.
Officials said a shortage of rescue boats and lack of telecommunication links - which snapped on Monday - were affecting rescue operations.
Source: BBC