Flash floods caused by torrential rains in a remote village in India-controlled Kashmir have left at least 44 people dead, authorities said Thursday, as rescue teams scouring the devastated Himalayan village brought at least 200 people to safety.

Hundreds more were missing, many of them Hindu pilgrims, after a cloudburst triggered flooding in mountainous terrain.

Torrential rain struck Chisoti, a town in Kishtwar district in Indian-administered Kashmir, on Thursday morning.