Darjeeling: Two persons, including a 6-year-old girl, died when a huge rock fell on them in Darjeeling’s Lower Gok on Wednesday.
As heavy rain continued throughout the night, multiple landslides were reported from different parts of the Hills. The National Highway 10 to Sikkim was also closed to traffic for a few hours owing to boulders sliding down and blocking the road. “Two persons, including a 32-year-old and a 6-year-old, died when they were crushed by a huge boulder in Gok,” said Richard Lepcha, Sub Divisional Officer, Darjeeling.
The 32-year-old person was identified as Pranit Yogi, a resident of Kurseong, who worked as a JCB driver in Gok. On Wednesday, he had gone to repair the water connection that had been affected by a landslide. The 6-year-old Samantha Subba had followed him. As Yogi was inspecting the water pipe and Samantha stood by his side, a huge boulder fell on them. Yogi died on the spot, while the girl died on the way to the hospital.
Landslides of different magnitudes were reported in Wards 14, 5, 23, 12, 13 and 14 of the Darjeeling Municipality. One house was damaged owing to an uprooted tree in the Rangli Rangliot block in Darjeeling. The TN Road in Ward 13 and another in Ganesh Gram were blocked owing to landslides but were cleared using earth movers. Rockslides were reported in Setijhora, near Kalijhora and Garedijhora near Melli on the National Highway 10 connecting Sikkim to Siliguri. Traffic was disrupted for a few hours. Earth movers stationed in these vulnerable areas were pressed into service and traffic resumed at around 1:30 p.m. However, the areas witnessed serpentine jams. In the last 24 hours, recorded at Wednesday 8:30 a.m., Darjeeling witnessed 61.2 mm of rainfall and Kalimpong recorded 40.8 mm.