Nine people, including six travelling in a passenger vehicle, were missing after an avalanche hit the Kupwara-Tangdhar road in Jammu and Kashmir’s Kupwara district on Friday afternoon.

A search and rescue operation is underway but bad weather is an obstacle, a traffic police official told PTI.

Teams of police, the Indian Army, State Disaster Response Fund, and a mountain rescue team are looking for those missing, ANI reported.

The vehicle was on its way from Kupwara to Karnah when the mishap took place around 4 pm, according to Greater Kashmir. The six passengers are believed to be trapped under a huge mound of snow, police officials told the newspaper.