Rey Khola claims one more. Toll up to 5 in 4 months

Subash Rai

Another drowning at Rey Khola in East Sikkim was reported on Sunday, 04 October. With this incident the number of lives claimed by a paticular section of this river has gone up to five in four months! As per eyewitness accounts, a 24-year-old youth from Vajra, Baluwakhani died due to drowning at around 4.30 pm on Sunday. According to a friend of the victim, five of them including the victim’s younger brother were swimming at that particular spot but suddenly the victim’s brother started drowning. Seeing this, the victim jumped into the deep whirlpool and pulled his brother out but was himself sucked in.

The Rey Khola dilemma

The killer eddy of Rey Khola

Rey Khola

SUBASH RAI

Once crowded with paddy fields and surrounded by thick jungles, Rey Khola below Gangtok is now packed with parked vehicles and picnicking groups, the farmlands pushed away from the khola, the stream used for washing vehicles, quarrying and swimming. It was always popular with students playing truant from school, and now more people have discovered it. The sudden infrastructural development with huge parking spaces and a reasonably clean stream can be regarded as factors which attract substantial numbers of people here especially during summers.

Another life lost at Rey Khola, and Still no solutions on the table

In India, drowning is ranked third among leading causes of death in children between 10-14 years age group. The first position is taken by lower respiratory infections followed by road accidents. This, as per data reflected in “Drowning Deaths in India: Need for Prevention Policies and Programs”, a study paper prepared by Dr. G. Gururaj, Professor & Head,  Department of Epidemiology, WHO Collaborating Centre for Injury Prevention and Safety Promotion, National Institute of Mental Health & Neuro Sciences, Bangalore. The paper further revealed that 16.8% of Indian children [0-17 age-group] who died in the year 2004, succumbed to drowning.

Mishap at Barbing

GANGTOK, 11 Jan: A Maruti Alto taxi plunged more than 1000ft off the road at Barbing on the Rey Khola-Ranka road about one kilometre away from Rey Khola on the intervening night of 10-11 January. There were only two occupants including the driver in the vehicle at the time of the accident, it is informed. A lady passenger was rescued from the site and is currently undergoing treatment at Central Referral Hospital here at Tadong. The driver, reported to be one Kumar Tamang, is missing.
[SUBASH RAI]