Sikkim Flood Toll Hits 82 Amid Slush And Debris

Eighty-two people have been confirmed dead in the Sikkim flash floods, with 32 bodies recovered from the hill state, 46 from West Bengal, and four in neighbouring Bangladesh, officials confirmed on Sunday evening, as the toll from the disaster skyrocketed amid protracted and arduous relief operations that involved rescuers combing through river-beds and debris caked in layers of silt.

- Pramod Giri

At least 140 people are still missing and the toll is expected to rise further, warned officials, explaining that the path of the Teesta river — which flows from Sikkim to West Bengal and eventually enters Bangladesh — meant that several bodies are likely to have been washed several hundreds of kilometres downstream.

Inclement weather, however, hampered search operations in a state that has largely been cut off from the rest of the country, as the flash floods washed away parts of the vital NH-10. Efforts within the state were also hamstrung by the widespread destruction of infrastructure, leaving northern Sikkim hemmed off from the south, with rescue teams using choppers to evacuate stranded people.

Bikash Basnet, press secretary to Sikkim chief minister Prem Singh Tamang, said, “Around 140 people are still missing.”

In West Bengal, the bodies were recovered from the Teesta river and its tributaries in Jalpaiguri, Darjeeling and Cooch Behar districts. Only 10 of those bodies were identified, officials said.