With better weather on Thursday morning, choppers rescued 59 tourists from the flooded region of north Sikkim after several days of erupting floods. The tourists were a part of the group of 109 who had been waiting in Lachung for close to a week because of landslides and severe weather.
The rescue was carried out using two MI-17V5 aircraft that had taken off from Pakyong Airport, not far from Gangtok. The group of 39 people was first sent in a helicopter, and later, the helicopter with 20 people, consisting of two foreigners, returned. All tourists involved in the incident were delivered to Gangtok, and it was confirmed that they were healthy.
To make it easier for the tourists to keep moving, Sikkim Nationalised Transport helped them board buses that took them to Siliguri in West Bengal. If passengers want to fly by helicopter, they can also use the helicopter standing by at Pakyong to get to Bagdogra near Siliguri.
Helicopters transported both tourists and NDRF people, employees from the Power Department, and engineers employed by Airtel to help recover terrestrial communication and energy in affected places.
Those tourists who were still stranded were taken by boat to Chaten before they could be evacuated. They stayed in local hotels and also at the Chaten military camp.
The adverse weather on Wednesday stopped the evacuation because of setbacks during the previous efforts. The crisis continued as two important bridges over the Taran Chu river were wiped out by the persistent rains. This broke the motorway connection between Lachen and Chaten.
A total of 1,678 tourists were rescued from Lachung and Chungthang just a few days earlier, and before the efforts had to stop, 33 people, including two US nationals, had been flown out. Unfortunately, three soldiers from the Army died and six are missing after their military camp was hit by a landslide in Chaten.
Join our whatsapp group for Latest updates
Click Here for Chhattisgarh News
Click Here for Entertainment News