At least 46 people died and more than 200 were missing following sudden, heavy rain in Indian Kashmir, officials said on Thursday, the second such disaster in the Himalayas in a little over a week.

Most of the deaths, 180, were recorded by disaster authorities in the mountainous Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province in north-west Pakistan. At least 30 homes were destroyed and a rescue helicopter crashed during operations, killing its five crew.