Sixteen Indian nationals would travel into the Indian zone of Kashmir across the de facto border dividing Kashmir, while two Pakistanis would return home when the makeshift bridge opened, Indian army spokesman Vijay Batra told

People from both sides of Kashmir had crossed into each other's territory by boarding a special cross-border bus service started as part of confidence-building measures to fuel a peace process between arch rivals India and Pakistan.

But the main bridge called the "peace bridge" had been wrecked by the October 8 earthquake, leaving passengers no way of returning home.

"Some of the stranded passengers from both the sides will cross the Line of Control (LoC) on Monday," Batra said, referring to the border demarcating Kashmir between India and Pakistan.

He said the passengers will use a small foot-bridge adjacent to the damaged one at Kaman Post, 120 kilometers (74 miles) north of the Indian Kashmir summer capital Srinagar.

The quake also damaged vast stretches of road connecting Srinagar with Muzaffarabad, the capital of Pakistani Kashmir.

India and Pakistan on Saturday opened a third crossing point on the border to facilitate flow of aid to desperate earthquake survivors. More than 73,000 people died in Pakistan and another 1,300 people in Indian Kashmir as a result of the quake.

India and Pakistan opened the first crossing along the LoC on Monday in southern Poonch district, followed two days later by another in the northern Uri sector. The opening of two more border crossings is set to take place next week.

The two nuclear-armed countries have fought two of their three wars over Kashmir.

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