Friday, November 22, 2024

Sikkim flashfloods: search on for 103 missing people Toll rises to 21

So far, 2,411 people have been evacuated and accommodated at relief camps

Gangtok: The toll in the flash flood in Sikkim mounted to 21 on Friday, Oct 6, as Army and NDRF teams worked their way through slushy earth and fast flowing water in the Teesta river basin and downstream north Bengal for the third day in search of those who were swept away and are still missing, officials said, a PTI report in The Tribune, Chandigarh, says. 

Of the 23 missing army personnel from Burdang area, the bodies of seven have been recovered from different areas downstream while one was rescued and the search is on for 15 missing jawans, Chief Minister P S Tamang said.

A total of 103 people, including the 15 jawans, remained missing after a cloudburst over Lhonak Lake in North Sikkim in the early hours of Wednesday triggered the flash flood.

So far, 2,411 people have been evacuated and accommodated at relief camps, while the calamity has affected over 22,000 people, the Sikkim State Disaster Management Authority (SSDMA) said in its latest bulletin.

The flash flood in the Teesta River, triggered by the cloudburst in Lhonak Lake, caused accumulation of huge quantity of water, which turned towards Chungthang Dam destroying the power infrastructure before moving downstream in spate, flooding towns and villages.

The flood destroyed 13 bridges in the state, with eight bridges getting washed away in Mangan district alone. Three bridges were destroyed in Gangtok and two in Namchi.

Of the civilian deaths, six were reported in Gangtok, and four each in Mangan and Pakyong.

A total of 103 people were missing after the incident. Of them, 59 people were reported missing in Pakyong, 22 in Gangtok, 17 in Mangan and five in Namchi.

Chungthang town bore the maximum brunt of the flood with 80 per cent of it getting severely affected. The NH-10, considered the lifeline of the state, sustained extensive damage at several places.

At the site of the incident in Burdang, army vehicles have been dug out and stores were recovered, a defence release said, adding tracker dogs and special radars have been deployed in the search operations.

It said that the army has been able to take account of 1,471 tourists stranded in Lachen, Laching and Chungthang areas.

*************************************************

Readers

These are extraordinary times. All of us have to rely on high-impact, trustworthy journalism. And this is especially true of the Indian Diaspora. Members of the Indian community overseas cannot be fed with inaccurate news.

Pravasi Samwad is a venture that has no shareholders. It is the result of an impassioned initiative of a handful of Indian journalists spread around the world.  We have taken the small step forward with the pledge to provide news with accuracy, free from political and commercial influence. Our aim is to keep you, our readers, informed about developments at ‘home’ and across the world that affect you.

Please help us to keep our journalism independent and free.

In these difficult times, to run a news website requires finances. While every contribution, big or small, will makes a difference, we request our readers to put us in touch with advertisers worldwide. It will be a great help.

For more information: pravasisamwad00@gmail.com

Related Articles

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here

- Advertisement -

EDITOR'S CHOICE