Three persons including an eight-year-old boy were killed and two others injured in two separate incidents on the Jammu-Srinagar national highway that was reopened for stranded vehicles on Saturday after remaining closed for over 17 hours due to fresh snowfall, officials said.

However, the highway was again closed due to fresh landslides after a few hours and continues to remain closed on Sunday. According to the traffic Police officials, the work for restoration is underway and traffic is expected to be restored only on Sunday evening. 

Two passengers -- eight-year-old Mohammad Muzamil of Budgam and 20-year-old Mohammad Imran -- were killed and two others injured late Friday evening when a Jammu-bound passenger vehicle was hit by shooting stones from the hillock overlooking the highway near Gangroo in Ramban district, officials further said.

In another incident, officials said a truck driver Ghulam Mohammad Joo, a resident of Pulwama district, was killed when he fell into a deep gorge while covering his truck with a sheet to save the loaded goods from the downpour near Nichilana on Friday evening.

Vehicular traffic on the 270-km highway, the only all-weather road linking Kashmir with the rest of the country, was suspended at 5.30 pm on Friday due to slippery conditions following fresh snowfall in Jawahar Tunnel area - the gateway to Kashmir, leaving over 8,000 vehicles comprising mostly trucks stranded, officials said.

Rains also lashed the highway, triggering multiple landslides between Ramsu and Panthiyal overnight, they said adding that the road was cleared only on Saturday morning with only stranded vehicles allowed to move towards their destinations.

The Ramban district authorities made necessary boarding arrangements for the stranded commuters, who were also accommodated by locals in their houses to keep them safe from the biting cold, officials added.