News arrives of Dzongu’s horror from where 20 dead bodies have been recovered

DEATH TOLL REACHES 40 IN NORTH SIKKIM
ROAD TO CHUNGTHANG WILL TAKE 3 MORE DAYS TO CLEAR

WANGCHUK BHUTIA
MANGAN, 20 Sept: The death toll of people killed by landslides triggered by the Sunday earthquake has climbed to 40 in North Sikkim. This figure was 24 till last evening. The numbers spiked today as confirmation arrived of more lives having been lost in Dzongu on Sunday. 16 more deaths were confirmed from the district today even as more are feared killed in the area. Of the 40 dead, only 26 have been identified thus far.
The detailed breakup of the casualties in the district is as follows:
Chungthang-10, Lachung-01, Toong-04, Mangan-01, Domang-01, Lachen-02 from Lachen-Mangan constituency and from the Dzongu constituency- Rammom-02, Salem-Pakel-11, Bey-Pentong-05, Lingdong-Borfok-02 and one BRO Engineer from Theng.
More dead bodies are feared to be still trapped under landslides in areas which have still not been reached due to the slew of landslides which have swamped the roads here. What is more, there are still some remote areas from where no information has been received thus far.

From remote Rammom village, local youth assisted by youth from Singhik-Sentam and volunteers from NYK Mangan managed to recover two dead bodies, including that of the ward Panchayat Tashi Tshering Lepcha whose car was caught in a landslide triggered by the earthquake on Sunday evening. The youth also managed to evacuate an injured person to Manul which was almost a whole day’s hike from the road-head.
Worryingly, sources inform that more casualties remain to be discovered at the Rammom landslide which is feared to have buried two more vehicles – a Bolero belonging to Teeta Urja and one vehicle with revellers after Biswakarma statue emersion.
The slide also damaged the Adit IV & V tunnels of the 1,200 MW Teesta Stage III being developed by Teesta Urja. Locals fear that some labourers might be trapped inside these tunnels although this has not been officially confirmed yet.
At Bey-Pentong, five members of a family are feared killed in a landslide which collapsed on their home on Sunday evening. Officials at the Mangan Control Room [ph No: 03592-234438] inform that Bey-Pentong remains inaccessible with roads leading to it destroyed. They are however confident that recovery teams will reach there by Wednesday afternoon.
At Salem-Pakel, eleven are feared killed in vehicles trapped in landslides.
A mother and daughter walking home were caught in a landslide triggered by the earthquake at Lingdong-Borfok.
Meanwhile, elsewhere in the district helicopters flew five sorties reaching personnel and rescuing people.
A rescue team consisting of personnel from the District Disaster Management Cell, Army and local people has been working to rescue people and extract dead bodies.
People remain in distress as communication and road networks in the affected areas remain down and rumours abound.
Ramom and Saffo are very remote and even transhipment is not possible.
Officials of the Border Roads Organisation responsible for the North Sikkim Highway are battling difficult odds to open road access to Chungthang beyond Mangan. By this evening, its personnel had cleared debris and fallen boulders from 150 spots over a mere 11 km stretch, opening access up to Meyong. BRO has deployed more than 600 laborers and personnel with heavy machinery on this axis and is working round the clock.
Work on clearing the road is also underway from the opposite end with road gangs at work at Theng and Toong. It may be recalled that a GREF engineer was killed at Theng.
BRO officials inform that it will take three more days to clear the road up to Chungthang.
National Disaster Rescue Force personnel also arrived at Mangan today and are headed towards Chungthang on foot and other spots.
The Mangan BDO, ST Tamang, is touring the affected area accessing the damage moving from village to village and houses.  He informed that the apart from private land holdings and houses, extensive damage is also being reported at schools, religious institutions, water supply lines, MGNREGA projects etc.
Eight houses at Ralak Khwaledara under Thingchim-Mangshila have collapsed, it was confirmed today - three houses [one RCC and 2 Ekra houses] belonging to Buddhiman Limboo, a wooden house belonging to Yuhang Limboo, Lall Prasad Limboo, Dupgey Limboo, Man Maya Limboo, Bhim Kumar Limboo and three houses [one RCC building and two ekra houses] belonging to Nardosh Limboo.
Two houses at Manul have also collapsed.