The evacuation of tourists who were stranded in different locations in Mangan, the worst-hit district in Sikkim in the Teesta flash flood, continued for the second day on Tuesday.

On Tuesday, choppers of the Indian Air Force and the army airlifted some 200 tourists from popular tourist destinations such as Lachen, Lachung, Chungthang and Dzongu.

According to sources in the tourism and civil aviation department of Sikkim, the 200 tourists, who were from Calcutta and various states of India, were carried to four different locations in choppers.

While some tourists landed at Ringhim in Mangan, others landed at Pakyong airport near Gangtok and in helipads at Burthuk and Libing. From there, buses were provided by the Sikkim Nationalized Transport which carried them to Siliguri via the Lava-Algara-Gorubathan route.

“As NH10 is closed, buses are taking alternative routes. Though it is taking seven-eight hours, it is good that finally stranded tourists can leave for their homes safely,” said an official.

Along with the tourists, 19 local residents, who needed medical treatment, were also airlifted from the state.

“The choppers made multiple sorties today (Tuesday) to evacuate tourists. The exercise will continue tomorrow (Wednesday). Helicopters are also carrying essential items to these locations as the road connectivity is yet to be restored,” the official added.

Toll rises

In Sikkim, the toll because of the natural disaster increased to 36 on Tuesday. However, around 80 people are missing till now in Sikkim.

Five more bodies were found in Jalpaiguri on Tuesday, which increased the number of bodies recovered in Bengal to 67.

Since October 4, when the flash flood in the Teesta has hit the mountain state, bodies have been recovered in Bengal's Jalpaiguri and Cooch Behar districts that are downstream of the river.

Most of the bodies — 45 so far — were recovered from Teesta in different locations of Jalpaiguri.

In Jalpaiguri, sources in the police and district health department said only 11 bodies were identified.

“These are six army personnel and five civilians. The remaining 34 bodies are yet to be identified and are lying unclaimed at the mortuary. The state (Bengal) government has shared details of these bodies with the Sikkim government as we suspect they were swept away by the river from the neighbouring state. We hope they will take necessary initiatives to carry out the identification of these bodies,” said a source in the health department.