Sikkim flash flood: Search for 105 missing people continues

GANGTOK: The death toll in Sikkim’s flash flood has risen to 34, officials in the state said on Monday, while the administration in adjoining northern West Bengal said that 40 bodies have been fished out from the downstream of Teesta River.

Officials, however, warned that the figures reported by Sikkim and West Bengal will have some duplication even as both states were keeping each other informed of their respective rescue efforts.

Ten army jawans are among the deceased, while the search for 105 people who are still missing is underway.

The Indian Air Force has started rescue and relief operations in the Himalayan state, airlifting the first batch of stranded tourists from Lachen to Mangan in North Sikkim. As many as 77 tourists,

including seven children, were also airlifted from Lachung to Pakyong airport.

Chief Minister Prem Singh Tamang held a review meeting with Chief Secretary VB Pathak, Chief of Army Staff General Manoj Pande, who has reached Gangtok, and other officials for coordinated

relief and rescue operations along with armed forces.

Chief Secretary Pathak on Monday held another

meeting with the members of the Inter-Ministerial Central Team (IMCT) and briefed them about the scale of destruction.

Of the 34 deaths reported in Sikkim, Pakyong

district reported the maximum number of fatalities at 22, including 10 army personnel, followed by six in Gangtok, four in Mangan and two in Namchi.

A total of 105 people have been missing six days after a cloudburst over Lhonak

Lake in Mangan district caused an upsurge in Teesta River,

flooding several towns on the river basin across

four districts in the Himalayan state.

Of the missing people, 63 are from Pakyong, 20 from Gangtok, 16 from Mangan and six from Namchi, according to a bulletin of the

Sikkim State Disaster Management Authority.