Guwahati, June 18: Altogether 1,225 tourists were evacuated from the landslide-hit Mangan district of North Sikkim on day 2 on Tuesday in a rescue operation launched by the district administration, NDRF and Border Roads Organisation (BRO).
More than 1,400 tourists, including 15 foreigners have been stranded in Mangan district since June 12 and rain-induced landslides cut off all road communication of the district with the rest of the state.
“The rescue operation will continue tomorrow as we are yet to rescue 150 people sheltered in various places,” Mangan district magistrate Hem Kumar Chettri said.
The second day’s rescue operation began in Lachung and surrounding regions began around 8 am on Tuesday.
“Under the directives of Mangan district magistrate Hem Kumar Chettri, additional DM Vishu Lama, superintendent of police (SP) Sonam Detchu Bhutia, BDO Kailash Thapa along with officials from all line departments as well as BRO, NDRF, SDRF, local panchayats and volunteers continued with their efforts and coordination to help tourists cross over slides with safety and caution,” a senior government official here said.
“A total of 1,225 tourists reached Mangan today. With vehicles provided by the motor vehicle division under the transport department, the tourists were able to cover the distance in cars where it was traversable,” the official said.
The rescued tourists expressed their gratitude to the state government, the administration, BRO, NDRF, SDRF and the locals for taking care of them and bringing them to safety.
“Evacuation by air will be possible only if the weather permits, for which 6 MI helicopters are on standby at Bagdogra,” the official added.
A senior official of BRO said: “Tourists from Lachung and Chungthang were evacuated to Mangan by brave warriors of Project Swastik today. Hot meals, first aid and assistance for elderly people were provided by the BRO units deployed at Chungthang and Manual.”
Since June 12, all major roads leading to North Sikkim have experienced multiple heavy slides and formation breaches, resulting in the severing of complete connectivity to North Sikkim since June 12.
The situation became grave after the collapse of the newly constructed suspension bridge at Sanklang as the entire connectivity to North Sikkim and Dzongu region was through this bridge. In response to this natural disaster, despite severe weather conditions and heavy rainfall in the region, BRO swung into restoration efforts by mobilizing huge manpower and machinery to restore connectivity to North Sikkim at the earliest.
“The BRO personnel restored vital connectivity between Chungthang and Mangan via the recently-constructed bridge at Toong over river Teesta. Swift and efficient response by the team of 758 BRTF under Project Swastik restored vital connectivity,” the BRO official said.
However, all major roads leading to North Sikkim like Dikchu-Sanklang-Toong, Mangan-Sanklang, Singtham-Rangrang, and Rangrang-Toong are still blocked for traffic movement due to landslides. The rain-induced flash floods, also triggered by heavy monsoon rains, swept through several regions of Sikkim, causing widespread destruction to homes, infrastructure, and livelihoods.
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