SRINAGAR: Two foreign skiers were killed and several more are trapped in Indian Kashmir's Gulmarg on Wednesday after an avalanche swept through the popular ski resort, a police official said.

"A massive rescue operation has been launched," Kashmir's police chief Vijay Kumar told Reuters. "Two bodies have been recovered so far."

The skiers were hit by the avalanche in the Affarwat area of Gulmarg, Kumar said, days after heavy snowfall in the hills of Kashmir, a disputed Himalayan region claimed in full by both India and Pakistan, though each country only controls parts of it. (Writing by Devjyot Ghoshal; Editing by Andrew Heavens)