Manali, Sep 4 - The 475-km National Highway-21 that connects Manali in Himachal Pradesh and Leh in Jammu and Kashmir has been temporarily closed for traffic following snowfall, an official said here Friday.

'The Manali-Leh highway has been closed temporarily after the snowfall on various stretches of the highway. It is likely to reopen by this (Friday) afternoon,' Commander of General Reserve Engineering Force (GREF), 38 Task Force, S.K. Doon told IANS.

He said the Rohtang Pass (13,050 feet) and the Baralacha Pass (16,020 ft) located on the Manali-Leh highway experienced snowfall Thursday.

'While the Baralacha Pass saw more than one foot of snow, the Rohtang Pass experienced 6-7 inches. Almost all high altitude reaches have been experiencing moderate snowfall during the past 24 hours,' he said.

Asked about people stranded on the highway, Doon said: 'All of them were rescued safely from the Baralacha Pass Thursday.'