About 100 vehicles carrying over 400 tourists were stranded at various places on JN Marg between Gangtok and Nathu-la in eastern Sikkim because of heavy snowfall on Saturday afternoon before all of them were rescued in batches with the help of the army on Saturday night and Sunday morning.

Multiple sources said about 15 vehicles with tourists were rescued safely and taken to Gangtok on Saturday night, and the rest on Sunday. There was no report of any tourist taking ill because of high-altitude sickness or adverse weather conditions.

Army’s Trishakti Corps said the rescue mission codenamed “Operation Himrahat” was carried out jointly with the help of Sikkim police and local civil administration.

“The relief operations continued through late night on 11 March. The tourists were moved to safe areas & provided shelter, warm clothing, medical aid and hot meals. The troops arranged accommodation for the stay of 360 tourists, including 178 males, 142 women and 50 children,” said an army release.

On Sunday morning, the Border Roads Organisation (BRO) was pressed into service to clear the road of snow with help of bulldozers to allow the safe movement of vehicles.

“By 9 a.m., the road was cleared…. The quick reaction by the troops provided relief and comfort to the stranded tourists under inclement weather conditions and ensured early clearance of road…,” added the release.

Tsomgo, Nathu-la and Baba Mandir in the upper reaches of eastern Sikkim are the most visited places in Sikkim. In 2022, the total tourist footfall in the area was nearly 5.60 lakh, out of which 2.90 lakh had visited during the months from March to May and about 1.04 lakh during the months from October to December, the two peak tourist seasons.

The Gangtok station of the India Meteorological Department said the heavy snowfall was caused by a combination of factors. “There was an upper air cyclonic circulation over Sikkim and joining areas and a north-south trough was also there because of which light rainfall occurred at many places in the state with snowfall in the higher reaches of Sikkim, especially east Sikkim,” said Gopi Nath Raha, the head of the station.

Raha said thunderstorm activities along with hailstorms were expected to occur in Sikkim and the adjoining hills in Darjeeling and Kalimpong and the plains of north Bengal over the next week beginning from Tuesday.

“The intensity as well as distribution of rainfall will also increase over Sikkim,” he added.