The Army and the NDRF will continue the search for the 103 people who went missing in the flash floods that battered Sikkim on Wednesday. This comes as the death toll in the natural disaster touched 19 on Friday morning. The flash floods were triggered by a cloudburst over Lhonak Lake in North Sikkim.
As per Chief Secretary V B Pathak, over 103 are still missing, including army personnel. The search operations are currently focused in the Teesta river basin and downstream north Bengal as the fast-flowing river is likely to have carried them to the lower reaches.
Meanwhile, a statement issued by the government of neighbouring West Bengal said 18 bodies have been recovered from the state and four of them have been identified as jawans. "Eighteen bodies have been recovered. Out of which six bodies - four jawans and two civilians - have been identified. The process of identification of the rest is being carried out."
Thousands of people are still stranded in the Sikkim. "As per the checkpost data available, around 3000 people are stranded in Lachen and Lachung. Over 700-800 drivers are stuck there. As many as 3,150 people who have gone there on motorcycles are also stranded," Pathak told reporters.
He added that these people were safe and would soon be evacuated by the Army and the Air Force. They will be airlifted up to Mangan, from where they will be brought to Sikkim by road. Pathak said the stranded people were able to communicate with their family members via the Army's telecommunication facility.
Meanwhile, the NDRF platoons will undertake a rescue mission in North Sikkim for the local people, especially in Singtam town that was hit badly by swelling in the Teesta river. Pathak added that the restoration of water and electricity infrastructure has been completed in Singtam and IBM, the industrial belt nearby.
Chief Minister Prem Singh Tamang visited Singtam, one of the worst affected areas, and took stock of the situation.
So far, 2,011 people have been rescued while the calamity has affected 22,034 people, the Sikkim State Disaster Management Authority (SSDMA) said in a bulletin. About 10,000 people have been affected by the calamity in the Mangan district, while 6,895 people were affected in Pakyong, 2,579 in Namchi and 2,570 people in Gangtok.
The flash flood in the Teesta River, triggered by the cloudburst in Lhonak Lake in North Sikkim, caused an accumulation of a huge quantity of water, which turned towards Chungthang dam destroying the power infrastructure before moving downstream in spate, flooding towns and villages.