Nine bodies were recovered overnight from the debris of collapsed homes in the remote region of Ladakh, said state police chief Kuldeep Khoda.

Heavy downpours triggered floods and mudslides in many places Friday, burying homes and toppling power and telecommunication towers, Mr Khoda said.

Nearly 2000 foreign tourists were in Ladakh, a popular destination for adventure sports enthusiasts when the calamity struck. There were no immediate reports of any foreigners being killed or injured.

Gushing waters swept away houses, cars and buses in a 150 sq km swathe in and around Leh, the main town in Ladakh, Mr Khoda said.

Police and soldiers rescued more than 150 people, including 100 foreign tourists, mostly Europeans, stranded in Pang village, north-east of Leh, according to army spokesman Lt Col J.S. Brar.

Leh residents, police, paramilitary and army soldiers helped pull people out of deep mud and damaged homes, but rescue efforts were hampered by fast-moving water and debris.

"It's a sea of mud," Josh Schrei, a New York-based photographer on a trekking holiday in Ladakh, said.

"The mud was about 3m high in places.

"A school building in Leh was buried under mud, with just the basketball hoop sticking out."

The powerful thunderstorm followed by a hailstorm had devastated many areas in Leh.

"The bus station in the town was washed away and the area is covered in mud. Buses were everywhere. Some of the buses have been carried more than 2km by the mud," Mr Schrei said.

August is peak tourist season when thousands of Western tourists and backpackers flock to Ladakh, about 450km east of Srinagar.

It is a high-altitude desert, with a stark moonscape-like terrain, about 3500m above sea level.

Ladakh has very low precipitation and the heavy downpour was a rare occurrence.

The deluge came as neighbouring Pakistan suffered the worst flooding in decades, with millions displaced and 1500 dead.

In Ladakh two soldiers were missing and 14 were injured. At least three policemen had been killed during rescue operations.