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.

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

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