The two highways to India's Ladakh region were reopened Saturday, a week after flash floods and mudslides washed away bridges and cut off all road links to the Himalayan region, officials said.
The floods came after a cloudburst Thursday in the middle of the peak tourist season in the usually arid high-altitude region, reported DPA.
While the death toll has reached 189, bodies were still being found buried under mud and rubble and at least 400 people were still missing, an official at the control room at Leh, Ladakh's main town said.
There could be foreign tourists among those missing, Amir Ali, Jammu and Kashmir government's officer on special duty at Leh said.
The victims found so far include five foreign tourists, three from France and one each from Italy and Spain.
Over 400 foreign trekkers stranded in various parts of Ladakh have been rescued over the past week. A group of 21 trekkers, mostly French and Swiss, were rescued Friday.
The opening of the roads linking Leh with Srinagar, capital of Jammu and Kashmir, and with Manali, a hill station in the adjoining state of Himachal Pradesh, would help with the evacuation of stranded tourists