Darjeeling: The Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB), guarding the India-Nepal border, emerged as the ‘Good Samaritan’, saving the life of a woman, who along with her husband was visiting Sandakphu.
Located at an altitude of 11,930 feet, Sandakphu is the highest point of West Bengal and a famous trekking spot.
As per the SSB, on the evening of January 5, two persons visiting Sandakphu checked into Hotel Namo Buddha. One of them, 24-year-old Savya Khatun of Dankuni, Hooghly, started experiencing severe health issues, including difficulty in breathing.
Acting swiftly on information received from the hotel owner, personnel from the Border Outpost (BOP) Sandakphu of 36 Bn SSB stepped in under the guidance of their commanding officer. They immediately administered oxygen which helped stabilise the patient’s condition. The patient was later transported to Sukhiapokhri Primary Health Centre for further medical attention as advised by a doctor. Khatun was discharged on Monday after her condition improved and she was out of danger. “In such cases, timely intervention is the most important. Oxygen has to be administered immediately and the patient has to be brought down to a lower altitude,” stated Bhaskar Das, Governing Council Member, Indian Mountaineering Foundation (IMF.)
The nearest medical facility to Sandakphy is the Sukhiapokhri Primary Health Centre, located 39 km away.
Initially, a trekking destination, with a motorable road leading to Sandakphu, it is fast evolving into a mass tourist destination, with the allure of viewing the magnificent Himalayan peaks including Mount Everest and the Kanchenjunga, attracting huge number of tourists, mostly novice about mountains and high altitude destinations, making them vulnerable. The year 2024 alone saw many tourist deaths in Sandakphu. In the wee hours of December 4, 2024, 28-year-old Ankita Ghosh of Kabi Mukunda Das road, South Dumdum, North 24 Parganas, was found in an unconscious state in her hotel room and was then rushed to Sukhiapokhri hospital and then referred to Darjeeling Sadar Hospital where the Doctors declared her ‘brought dead.’ On November 19, 55-year-old Asish Bhattacharjee, a tourist from Bhawanipur, Kolkata, passed away while returning from Sandakphu at Dhotrey where he complained of respiratory problems. On May 26, Tanmoy Kundu, from Kaliaganj, North Dinajpur had put up at Tumling on the way to Sandakphu. There he had complained of illness including respiratory problems and was declared brought dead at Sukhiapokhri hospital in the wee hours of May 27.