By Altaf Hussein
BADHIARA, Pakistan, Jan 16 (Reuters) - At least two Kashmiri men were feared dead after being swept off a cliff by a landslide triggered by heavy rain in Pakistan's earthquake zone on Monday, Reuters witnesses said.
A Reuters Television cameraman had been filming a party of villagers, including women and children, trying to traverse a stretch of mountain road covered by earth and rock from an earlier landslide when the next one struck.
At least three other people were injured in the accident near the village of Badhiara in Pakistani Kashmir.
Sudhir Awan, a Pakistani soldier on leave, managed to escape the falling rocks and was bleeding from a head injury.
"Allah has given me new life," he said. "When I was trapped I thought there was no chance of survival."
Villagers recited Muslim prayers as soon as they saw the rocks start falling down the mountainside.
The body of one of the victims was seen lying on a bank of the river Jhelum, flowing dozens of metres (yards) below, but the other was believed to have been buried under a huge pile of rocks and boulders.
A bulldozer had been trying to clear the road when the new slide occurred about 24 km (15 miles) south of Muzaffarabad, capital of Pakistani Kashmir, the area worst hit by the Oct. 8 earthquake that killed more than 73,000 people.
Heavy rain and snow triggered several landslides in Pakistani Kashmir at the weekend, cutting off several villages and towns, and relief flights were grounded on Sunday and Monday.
Monday's incident illustrated the continued threat to earthquake survivors, more than two million of whom have been camping out in tents or in simple shelters since the disaster.
So far, the huge relief effort organised by the army and international agencies has averted a feared second wave of deaths, but aid workers say the cold weather remains a serious threat, especially to children.
Former U.S. President George Bush, the U.N. special envoy for the relief operation, arrived in Pakistan on Monday and was to visit the quake zone on Tuesday, weather permitting.
(Additional reporting by Abu Arqam Naqash in MUZAFFARABAD)