Eleven members of the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) were in the building near Jawahar tunnel, 100 kilometres (60 miles) south of Kashmir’s summer capital Srinagar, a police spokesman said.

“Five ITBP men were rescued and five bodies have been recovered,” the police spokesman said. “One ITBP member is missing and presumed dead.”

A search for the missing man continued amid continued heavy snow fall, he added.

The ITBP is in charge of security at the one-and-a-half mile (2.4 kilometre) long tunnel which connects the restive Muslim-dominated Kashmir valley with the predominantly Hindu Jammu region.

Snows forced the closure of the 300 kilometre (186 mile) Jammu-Srinagar highway, the police spokesman said.