Flash floods in West Bengal and Bhutan leave atleast 75 dead

Seventy five persons are missing after landslides and flash flood in Bhutan's Pasakhan area, while 12 bodies of victims were found floating in the Basra and Torsa rivers of West Bengal's Jalpaiguri district, according to official sources.
Denying reports in a section of the press that 200 persons were feared to have perished in the calamity, district magistrate Dr Subrata Gupta said that he had received information from Bhutan that 75 persons were reported missing after the landslides.
A team headed by a Deputy Magistrate, a senior police official and doctors would conduct post mortem on the bodies, which were yet to be retrieved, on the spot on Wednesday, as their advanced stage of decay made it impossible for them to be taken to a mortuary, Dr Gupta said. Bhutan has been requested to send its representative to be present during the post mortem and for identification of the bodies, he said.
The landslides and flash flood occurred in the Himalayan kingdom between Chukkha and Thimpu last week about 40 km from the Indian town of Jaigaon bordering Bhutan. The situation in some areas of Jalpaiguri district particularly some tea gardens which were severely hit by the flash flood, was now improving as it had stopped raining in the Bhutan hills since yesterday, according to flood relief officials.
Report : Zeenews Bureau