MUZAFFARABAD, Jan 21: Two villagers were buried alive under the huge mass of snow in a remote village of Azad Kashmir last night, taking the number of such deaths in one week to four, police said here on Monday.

Superintendent of Police Special Branch, Raja Ghulam Sarwar, told this correspondent that two residents of Lawat Manan village, located more than 100 kilometres northeast of here in the Neelam valley, were killed by an avalanche on Sunday night.

The bodies of the victims who were identified as Abdul Qayyum, son of Lal Khan, and Zubair, son of Rehmatullah, were recovered on Monday, police said.

On Saturday afternoon, two bodies were recovered in Kel village, also located in the Neelam valley. They were identified as Sain, son of Kala, and Yaqoob, son of Baz Khan. Both were said to be missing since January 14.

This year, the hilly areas of Azad Kashmir have received huge snowfall in recent days, which the military officials say is one of the causes of de-escalation for tensions along the Line of Control. In the past, several deaths caused by avalanches have often been reported from such areas.