A PACKED bus carrying wedding guests has been swept away by a flooded stream in the Indian-held portion of Kashmir and about 70 people are missing.
Rescuers are searching for the bus but have not been able to locate it in the raging waters. The passengers were on their way to a wedding ceremony in a village in the Rajouri region, about 110 miles south west of Srinagar, the main city in the Indian-held portion of Kashmir.
The bus reportedly had a capacity of only 54 people and rescue efforts were being hampered by heavy rain and strong currents.
The region's wedding season has been disrupted by heavy rains and the worst floods in 22 years, and many ceremonies have been postponed.
At least 14 people have died in the past two days, and authorities closed schools and colleges and stopped train services in the area today. Meteorologists said the heavy rains were likely to continue for another two days. Soldiers and rescue workers used boats to move thousands of people to higher ground.
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