Nearly 400 tourists rescued from North Sikkim by Army, IAF on helicopters
Gangtok (PTI): Nearly 400 tourists, including 13 from Bangladesh, were rescued by the Indian Air Force (IAF) and Army from the Lachen and Lachung towns in North Sikkim on Monday, officials said.
The MI-17 and Chinook helicopters of the IAF conducted 10 sorties, moving 354 tourists out of the disaster-hit areas, they said.
These tourists were brought to Pakyong airport, they added.
The Army shifted 45 tourists from Lachen to Mangan on helicopters, officials said.
These tourists were stranded in Lachen and Lachung after a cloudburst over Lhonak Lake in Mangan district on Wednesday caused a flash flood in Teesta river, devastating several towns and villages across the Himalayan state, they said.
The operation to rescue tourists stranded in the affected areas will resume again on Tuesday, officials said.
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11 more bodies retrieved from Arunachal accident site
Itanagar (PTI): Eleven more bodies were retrieved on Saturday from the deep gorge in Arunachal Pradesh's Anjaw district, where a mini-truck on which 22 labourers from Assam were travelling fell, an official said.
With this, 17 bodies have been recovered from the accident site, Anjaw's deputy commissioner Milo Kojin said.
He said three more bodies will be brought out on Sunday.
The operation, being conducted by a joint team of the NDRF and Army, resumed at 6 am.
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"The retrieval process was extremely difficult because of the treacherous terrain, and the gorge is very deep," Kojin said.
The operation was suspended around 4 pm due to low visibility and will be resumed on Sunday morning, he said.
"One person is still missing, and a search operation will be carried out tomorrow," he added.
The accident happened on the evening of December 8, around 40 km from Hayuliang towards Chaglagam in the district. On the evening of December 10, one survivor managed to climb out of the gorge and reach a nearby Border Roads Task Force (BRTF) labour camp, following which the authorities were alerted.
Six bodies were recovered from the gorge on Friday and handed over to their families on Saturday.
