2 min readJammuUpdated: Mar 16, 2026 09:20 AM IST
The Jammu and Kashmir Police and security forces on Sunday rescued over 100 people, including school children, who were stranded following heavy snowfall at Sinthan Top and Margan Top, at an altitude of 12,000 feet and 14,000 feet, respectively, along National Highway 244, which connects Jammu province’s Kishtwar district with Anantnag in the Kashmir Valley.
Sources said that the stranded people were travelling on the 152-km national highway despite adverse weather forecasts by the meteorological department. When some of them reached Sinthan Top and Margan Top, two mountain passes along the highway, they got trapped in sudden snowfall.
While Kishtwar Deputy Commissioner Pankaj Sharma and SSP Naresh Singh could not be contacted despite repeated calls, Zaffarullah Sheikh, an ex-member of the District Development Council, Kishtwar, told The Indian Express that around 40 people travelling in seven light motor vehicles were stranded at Margan Top and another 70-80 people at Sinthan Top.
Snow clearance machines were pressed into service from both the Anantnag and Srinagar sides to enable rescue teams to reach the stranded people. While those trapped at Margan Top were rescued by police and security forces around 4 pm, the rescue teams had approached those stranded at Sinthan Top later in the evening.
Sources said that the stranded people were travelling on the 152-km national highway despite adverse weather forecasts by the meteorological department.
It was not the first time that people have got stranded at Sinthan Top and Margan Top due to adverse weather conditions.
Pointing out that weather changes suddenly at both the mountain passes, officials said that in the event of adverse weather forecasts, even though authorities issue advisories asking people to avoid travel on the road, many travellers ignore the warnings in view of the short road distance between Kishtwar and Anantnag.
A vehicle carrying schoolchildren from the Kashmir side, too, was trapped near Sinthan Top, sources said.
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Pointing out that the parents had asked the driver to bring the children via National Highway 44 through Ramban district, sources quoted the driver as saying that the children insisted that he take the NH 244 route.
