With the bodies of seven army personnel recovered, the death toll in the Sikkim flash floods rose to 40 on Friday. The flash floods were triggered by a cloudburst over Lhonak Lake in North Sikkim. So far, 143 people have been gone missing in the floods.
According to Army and NDRF teams the search operation for the missing persons are ongoing.
Around 2,400 people have been rescued so far, said officials.
Sikkim Chief Minister Prem Singh Tamang announced an ex-gratia of Rs 4 lakh to the families of those died in the flash flood. An immediate relief of Rs 2,000 each to all sheltered in camps were also announced by the CM.
The flash floods had severely damaged the roads hampering the connectivity between the districts. Also, communication in North Sikkim has been affected, Tamang told PTI.
The bodies of 16 army personnel is yet to be recovered. They had gone missing from the Bardang area, where the Teesta river flows.
According to the Sikkim State Disaster Management Authority (SSDMA), search operations are on for 143 missing persons.
Deaths were reported in Pakyong, Mangan and Gangtok districts.
Around 25,100 people have been affected by the calamity, said officials. CM had said that he had spoken with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah and detailed the situation. PM has assured all help, said Tamang.
A release of Rs 44.8 crore from the central share of the State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF) was approved by Shah to provide relief to Sikkim. An Inter-Ministerial Central Team (IMCT) was also formed by the Home Affairs Ministry to assess the damage caused by flash floods.
Around 13 bridges in the state altogether was washed away in the floods. Tracker dogs, and special radars are used by the central forces to search for the missing persons.
