Pakistani troops evacuate 4,000 more people as flood death toll hits 461 in Pakistan and India

ISLAMABAD – Officials say Pakistani troops with helicopters and boats have evacuated another 4,000 marooned people from the country's plains where raging monsoon floods inundated more villages early Thursday.

In a statement, the military said it has expanded relief operations in flood-hit areas in the eastern Punjab province where the overflowing Chenab river is causing damage.

In neighboring India , Sandeep Rai Rathore, a top official at the National Disaster Response force, said Thursday that 80 army and air force transport aircraft and helicopters are dropping water bottles, biscuits, baby food and food packets for hundreds of thousands of people marooned in flood-hit areas of the Indian portion of Kashmir.

The flooding which began earlier this month in Kashmir, which is claimed by both India and Pakistan, has killed 461 people.