Snow-covered Rohtang Pass shut for traffic

Rohtang Pass, the crucial high altitude road link between Manali and Keylong in Himachal Pradesh, has been shut for traffic due to heavy snowfall, an official said Sunday.

The pass normally opens to traffic in May.

In the past two days, the Rohtang Pass experienced more than five feet of snow, the official told IANS. "It has been closed for motorists till the onset of summer."

The General Reserve Engineering Force, a wing of the Border Roads Organisation that maintains the pass, has withdrawn its men and machinery.

The Rohtang Pass, at 13,050 feet above sea level, is strategically vital to maintain supplies to the military posted in Jammu and Kashmir's Ladakh region along the borders with China and Pakistan.