Indian authorities Monday airlifted bodies of two persons and 36 people stranded in quake-hit Nepal to Indian-controlled Kashmir, officials said.

"The two bodies were brought to Jammu city, while the 36 hailing from Kashmir who were stranded in Nepal following the recent devastating earthquake were evacuated from Kathmandu to New Delhi and were flown back to Srinagar today," a police spokesman said.

Among the 36 evacuated, three injured have been admitted for treatment in police hospital Srinagar.

A powerful earthquake measuring 8.1 on the Richter scale struck Nepal on Saturday, causing large scale destruction and killing more than 5,000 people.

The tremors of the quake were felt across the country and in neighboring India, Pakistan and Bangladesh.

Soon after the earthquake, Indian police in the region established a helpline at police control room in Srinagar for the people of whose relatives were stranded in the Himalayan country.

"Police control room Kashmir remained in constant touch with the Indian Ministry of External Affairs, control room New Delhi and control room Kathmandu," the spokesman said.

Sushil Koirala, Prime Minister of Nepal, told a news agency he fears that death toll could reach 10,000.

The UN estimates that around eight million people have been affected by the earthquake in Nepal, which accounts for more than a quarter of the country's population.

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