Prince Charles and his wife Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, have visited the quake-hit village of Pattika in Pakistan-administered Kashmir. They flew in by army helicopter.

Banners welcomed the royal couple to the village, in which more than 1,670 people - around 15% of its 11,000 population - died in last year's quake.

Scores of armed guards in camouflage were in Pattika to protect Charles and Camilla, who are on a five-day tour of the region.

Two Pakistani Special Branch officers on their way to guard the village for the prince's visit were killed when their truck veered off the road and into the ravine into the Neelam River.

Charles and Camilla viewed the wreckage of houses and spoke to those who were still homeless.

Two students presented the couple with bouquets at a government girls' school flattened by the quake.

Charles told one of the villagers: "Our sympathies are with you."

While touring a new health clinic paid for by aid, Camilla said of the devastation: "When you see it on television, you have no idea."

Camilla tried to calm six-month-old Zobia Babe who was being given a vaccination jab to prevent diseases such as polio, in the Red Cross clinic.

Camilla met one of the donkeys at an animal centre run by the Brooke Hospital for Animals charity, of which she has become president.

Charles crouched on the floor to listen to stories of hardship from local farmers who sat cross legged on blankets in the shade.