Frantic rescue op on as Sikkim counts the cost

The death toll in the flash floods that tore through Sikkim and parts of West Bengal rose to 18 on Thursday, and 98 people, including 22 army personnel, were still missing, according to officials who said rescue teams were mounting frenetic operations amid cut-off roads, uprooted bridges, interrupted communication, and heavy rainfall.

- Pramod Giri and Joydeep Thakur

On Wednesday, the river Teesta that flows through Sikkim ripped through large swathes of the hill state due to a glacial lake outburst flood (GLOF) in Lhonak lake. The worst-hit districts were nearly snapped from the rest of the country, with the raging waters knocking out access as well as communications, after cleaving through a hydroelectric dam.

The Sikkim State Disaster Management Authority (SSDMA) in a bulletin on Thursday said 22,034 people were affected, and that over the last 24 hours, 2,011 people were been rescued. The state government has thus far set up 26 relief camps and there were 1,025 people in eight camps in Gangtok alone.

Eighteen bodies have been recovered, and 98 people were still missing, chief secretary VB Pathak said on Thursday evening. State officials said the toll was likely to rise, with rescuers still to remove debris from fallen houses. Tashi Chopel, the district collector of Pakyong, one of the worst hit, said: “More bodies are being recovered. But it is difficult to give details right now.”

The first images that emerged on Thursday suggested devastation was far-reaching, with the true picture unlikely to have been reflected in numbers released. At several locations, the river banks were indiscernible with a blanket of debris spread over it as well as where the water flowed. Several houses had collapsed, multiple others inland were inundated and dozens of vehicles were seen washed downstream or buried under silt.