Jammu & Kashmir Floods: Death toll climbs to 277,

SRINAGAR: The death toll due to the floods in Jammu and Kashmir has climbed to 277 even as Chief Minister Omar Abdullah today expressed hope that the toll would not be as high as feared earlier.

"The death toll in Jammu is 203 including the 44 members of a marriage party who are missing since there bus as washed away (in Rajouri district)," Omar told PTI.

He said the rescue workers have so far recovered 74 bodies from different parts of Kashmir Valley.

"Other than the 44 persons from Jammu, we do not have many people reported missing.If there would have been, we would have got to know by as communication systems have started working," he said.

Omar also dismissed rumours that dogs were eating bodies of flood victims or that some bodies had swept away to Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK).

"There is no truth in these rumours," he added. Jammu and Kashmir has been hit by the worst-ever floods which have wreaked havoc in several districts.