So far 13 survivors have been rescued from Malpa village of Pithoragarh, scene of Tuesday's tragedy in which more than 200 people were feared killed.

Army and Indo-Tibetan Border Police personnel struggled to extricate bodies since yesterday from heaps of debris, officials here said.

All the bodies were recovered in decomposed state.

The ITBP, in a statement in New Delhi, said eight of its personnel, who were among the 200 people including 60 Mansarovar pilgrims believed killed, were now presumed perished in the Malpa tragedy. ITBP director general Gautam Kaul is camping at Bareilly and was in touch with its team.

Prime Minister AB Vajpayee has announced an ex-gratia payment of Rs 50,000 to the next of kin ofthose killed in the landslides in Pithoragarh and Rudraprayag districts in the last few days.

An amount of Rs 1.25 crore has been sanctioned for this purpose from the PM's relief fund, an official spokesman said in New Delhi.

Helicopter sorties failed to reach the affected site due to bad weather, the ITBP said, adding flights were attempted from Sirsawa and Agra but failed to take-off because of near zero visibility.