Most of the deaths were recorded by disaster authorities in the mountainous Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province in north-west Pakistan. At least 74 homes have been damaged, while a rescue helicopter crashed during operations, killing its five crew.

Anguished Pakistanis are searching remote areas for bodies swept away by weekend flash floods as the death toll has reached 277.

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