Quake toll may reach 54,000 as cold sets in

AT least 40,000 people in Pakistani-controlled Kashmir died in last week’s earthquake, a Pakistani official said yesterday.

That would raise the overall death toll in the disaster to more than 54,000.

The prime minister of Pakistan’s part of Kashmir, Sikandar Hayat Khan, estimated the toll in his region could be much higher because relief workers have not yet reached many affected areas, said his spokesman, Abdul Khaliq Wasi.