SRINAGAR, Oct. 9 (Xinhuanet) -- The death toll from Saturday's devastating earthquake in the Indian-controlled Kashmir has mounted to 350 on Sunday, as relief and rescue operations are on a war-footing level, local government officials said Sunday.

    The death toll includes 38 soldiers who were buried alive in their bunkers when the 7.6-magnitude earthquake hit the region Saturday morning.

    There are some 962 people reportedly injured, which include 90 soldiers of the Indian Army.

    Indian Defense Minister Pranab Mukherjee, Indian Army Chief Gen.J J Singh, ruling United Progressive Alliance (UPA) leader Sonia Gandhi and local government chief minister Muft Sayeed also visited the worst-hit Uri town Sunday, which skirts with Muzaffarabad in Pakistan-controlled Kashmir, to assess the situation and oversee the on-going relief and rescue operations.

    The epicenter of the earthquake, which lasted some four-and-a-half minutes and measured 7.6 on the Richter scale, lay in Muzaffarabad, 95 km north of Islamabad in Pakistan-controlled Kashmir and 115 km northwest of Srinagar, the summer capital of Indian-controlled Kashmir.

    According to a spokesman of Indian Army's 15th Corps, which is deployed in the Indian-controlled Kashmir, 20 tons of medicine and medical equipment and 100 tons of food items have been distributedin the worst-hit Tangdhar and Uri areas.

    Earlier, talking to New Delhi-based New Delhi Television (NDTV),vice chief of the Indian Air Force Air Marshal Ajit Bhavnanai saidthat Indian Air Force has flown army engineers to Srinagar to helpthe disaster management authorities in the relief and rescue operations in the affected areas. Enditem