Monday, October 17 2005 12:31 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Muzaffarabad: A halt in heavy rains today (Oct 17, 2005) allowed helicopter relief flights to resume across Pakistan's quake zone, but fresh landslides hampered efforts to move supplies by road and officials estimated the death toll could now be more than 54,000.

Eight international medical teams took off from Muzaffarabad to outlying villages, as fears grew for millions of survivors without healthcare and shelter in the isolated mountains of Kashmir. A United States (US) diplomat estimated that about one-fifth of populated areas had yet to be reached.

"There are serious patients with infected wounds and gangrene," said Sebastian Nouak of the International Committee of the Red Cross, after a team of its doctors landed in Chekar, about 40 miles east of Muzaffarabad, the capital of Pakistan's part of the Himalayan region.

He said about 200 people in the town had not received any medical help since the 7.6 magnitude quake struck on Oct. 8, and landing choppers there was dangerous because desperate villagers rushed into the landing area.

In the town of Bagh, the bodies of six soldiers killed when their MI-17 transport helicopter crashed in bad weather on Saturday were laid into simple wooden coffins for transport back to Islamabad. The remains were located yesterday (Oct 16, 2005) but could not be flown back immediately because of the downpours.

Two strong aftershocks struck the region early today, including one with a magnitude of 4.5, but there were no immediate reports of damage. There have been hundreds of aftershocks and experts say they could continue for months.