Sixty-five hours and counting. Yet confusion persists over the fate of the 22 missing soldiers washed away by the devastating flash flood in Sikkim in the wee hours of Wednesday.
Till reports last received, despite extensive searches at both Singtam, the region where tragedy struck the armed forces establishment, as well as in the downstream areas of the Teesta River, at least 11 out of the 22 missing soldiers remain untraced.
Separate communications from the Bengal and Sikkim governments confirm having retrieved bodies of 11 soldiers from different parts of the two states. While a cumulative report by the state disaster control room of the Sikkim government stated that seven bodies of the men in uniform have so far been fished out from the river banks in Pakyong district, a Bengal government communication, released on Thursday and not updated till this report was published, said bodies of four jawans have so far been recovered from different areas of Jalpaiguri and Siliguri and, subsequently, identified.
It could not be confirmed, though, if the recovery data supplied by the two states were exclusive of each other or had overlapping names.
The state government communications aside, no official confirmation could be received from the armed forces corroborating the statements issued by the two state governments.
“The search for the missing Indian Army soldiers continues with the search focusing in downstream areas of Teesta Barrage. At the site of the incident at Burdang near Singtam, the army vehicles are being dug out and stores are being recovered. Additional resources in terms of teams of TMR (Tiranga Mountain Rescue), tracker dogs, and special radars have been brought in, to assist in the search operations,” a note from the Indian Army read.
Meanwhile the Army kept at its task of providing assistance in terms of food, medical aid and extending communication facilities to civilians and tourists stranded in different parts of North Sikkim. “Troops of TriShakti Corps Indian Army have been able to take an account of 1471 tourists present in the areas of Lachen/Chatten, Lachung and Chungthang. With the weather improving on 6 Oct, there may be a window of opportunity for evacuation of stranded tourists by Helicopters. The same is being planned jointly by the State Government, Indian Army and Indian Air Force,’ the Eastern Command informed.
Indian Army running assistance camps for stranded civilians in North Sikkim.
“Survey is being carried out by all agencies to assess the damage and plan restoration of road connectivity. The road link between Singtam and Burdang has been restored with the clearing of a single lane for vehicular traffic,” the note added.