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.

Cloudbursts are causing chaos in mountainous parts of India and Pakistan, with tremendous amounts of rain falling in a short period of time over a concentrated area.

Sudden floods triggered by heavy rains have killed more than 400 people across parts of Pakistan, India-administered Kashmir and Nepal, authorities have said, with scores of people still missing.

Rescuers recovered dozens more bodies from the rubble of collapsed homes in a northwestern district of Pakistan, bringing the death toll to at least 274, as authorities defended their response to the flooding and said they did not need any foreign help at this point.