North Bengal: Incessant rain triggers landslides; weather warning issued

Darjeeling: Incessant rainfall since Tuesday night has wreaked havoc in sub Himalayan North Bengal and Sikkim. The rainfall has triggered numerous landslides in Sikkim. The IMD has issued heavy rainfall warnings for the next 72 hours.

A landslide occurred in between Singtam and Rongpoo on National Highway 10, connecting Sikkim with Siliguri on Wednesday morning. The National Highway was shut to vehicular traffic for a while. However the debris were cleared on a war footing and traffic resumed.

In the evening there were reports of landslides in Upper Dzongu in North Sikkim. There were unconfirmed reports of three policemen having lost their lives in the landslide in that remote area.

Indian Army conducted a rescue mission to evacuate 8 civilians buried under debris and landslide at 17 Mile, Gangtok on Tuesday. Heavy rains since the last two days in the area caused havoc and the camp set up by National Highway authorities at 17 Mile suffered from a heavy landslide.

Troops of Black Cat Division came into action and rescued 8 civilians in a rapid move. All of them were treated at the Nearest Military Hospital.

The soldiers of Trishakti Corps, Black Cat Division being the first responders in the remote areas, have actively engaged in Number of rescue missions of civilians in the past also.

The IMD has issued "Yellow" weather (7-20 cm) warning of heavy rains for the next three days for this region.