No trace of 120 people in North Sikkim villages found

This article was last updated on April 16, 2022

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There is still no hint regarding 120 residents of Bay Village in North Sikkim, situated between Lachung and Chungthang, after Sunday’s powerful quake. Even, a flash flood at Lachung, poses a new threat of landslides.

“We find no trace as yet of 120 people living in 14 huts at Bay Village as the area is totally confounded. There is a lot of debris … and the residents have gone missing,” National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) team in-charge, Nisith Upadhyay said. He also told that four NDRF teams have now moved out to worst-hit Lingu, Sakyang, Pentong and Bay villages in North Sikkim which have become almost inaccessible after the quake.

“We are afraid some bodies may have been trapped under the flattened houses as boulders are lying strewn all over,” he added. According to SR Bhutia, deputy director of horticultural society of Sikkim, who led the four teams, “we haven’t found any person in the village. We are searching for them.” Meanwhile, a flash flood at Lachung Chu River has posed a threat of fresh landslides at Lachung, one of the worst-hit by the quake, according to a Geological Survey of India officer.

“The flash flood will loosen the soil and may activate fresh landslides in the area,” the GSI’s Sikkim zone officer said. Forty personnel of the Reserve Army Engineering regiment were working round-the-clock to clear the National Sikkim Highway blocked by landslides.

Army rescuers have gained further access to quake-hit areas with the elimination of debris collected on the 70-km Gangtok-Mangan road following the temblor for another 15 KM up to Tung. Army sources told that it would take 10 to 12 days more to reach the destroyed villages after removing the rocks and boulders blocking the road. A portion of an entire hill had stumbled down on the highway which leads to the Tibet border.

Personnel of the Army’s engineering contingent have been exploding dynamites to remove the huge rocks that came rolling down on the highway. Road connectivity with Chungthang, Lachung and Lachen has not yet been established.

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