Sikkim police with the help of the army rescued eight stranded tourists from near the Tsomgo (Changu) Lake in East Sikkim on Monday evening after heavy snowfall lashed the area, blocking the highway at several places and making travel risky.

The eight were members of two families from Bengal comprising five men, two women and a child.

They were rescued and put up at the army guest house at 17 Mile, which is between Tsomgo and Gangtok.

“It started snowing from one’o clock yesterday (Monday), and they (the tourists) got slightly delayed and got stuck. Around 4pm, they were shifted to the army guest house at 17 Mile,” Siva Prasad Yellasiri told The Telegraph.

All of them were doing well and brought down to Gangtok on Tuesday.

The Sikkim tourism department did not issue permits to visit Tsomgo as well as North Sikkim on Tuesday because of the heavy snow in those areas. “It snowed today (Tuesday) as well. We will issue permits depending on the weather condition,” said Lukendra Rasaily, the chairman of the Sikkim Tourism Development Corporation (STDC).

The weather forecast for the next few days, however, is not very encouraging.

“This will continue for another 72 hours in North Sikkim and another 48 hours in East Sikkim. This (the snowfall) is because the passage of a trough in the westerlies in the upper level of the atmosphere over this region,” said Gopi Nath Raha, the head of Indian Meteorological Department (IMD), Gangtok.