The arterial 270-km Jammu-Srinagar national highway, the only all-weather road linking Kashmir with the rest of the country, was closed on Thursday amid fresh snowfall and landslides at several places in Ramban and Udhampur districts, officials said. There was overnight snowfall at Jawahar Tunnel, which serves as a gateway to Kashmir valley, while rains triggered multiple landslides along Kheri belt in Udhampur district and Banihal-Ramban stretch overnight, hampering efforts of early restoration of the highway, the officials said. Vehicular traffic on the highway was suspended on Thursday morning from Jammu after snowfall and landslides that left over 1,500 vehicles stranded between Ramban, Banihal, Udhampur, Jammu and Kathua districts. Two trucks were also hit by the landslides causing damage to the vehicles, they said. Men and machinery are at work to clear the highway of snow and landslides and make it navigable, they said while adding that rains are still triggering further landslides.
