MUZAFFARABAD, Feb 13: Army and police personnel resumed rescue operation on Sunday in Mayyatan Wali Seri village in the Neelum valley where the death toll from avalanche rose to 41 from the earlier figure of 33, officials said.

Increase in the number of victims in the village pushed the total toll in Neelum and Leepa valleys of Muzaffarabad district since Friday night to 54, the officials said.

By Sunday afternoon, 18 more bodies were recovered raising the total number of retrieved corpses to 30. A woman, Zarina Bibi, was rescued but after a short while succumbed to her injuries, superintendent of police Raja Ghulam Sarwar told Dawn.

A glacier had hit 18 of the 20 houses in the Mayyatan Wali Seri village in the wee hours of Saturday and officials had initially put the figure of those buried alive at 33. However, on Sunday Muzaffarabad deputy commissioner Dr Mahmoodul Hassan said that the number of the avalanche victims in that village had soared to 41.