Siliguri, July 09: The death toll in the landslides in north Bengal mounted to 24 as incessant rains continued to lash the region today with two major hill stations, Darjeeling and Gangtok in Sikkim, remaining cut-off from the rest of the country. The rescue workers recovered one more body last night at the worst affected Mirik block while six others, who remained missing, were believed to be dead, according to Darjeeling district magistrate H Mohan.
Rescuers had pulled out 17 bodies, including three of women, from the disaster site where at least 50 houses had been destroyed due to landslides in the early hours of Tuesday following incessant rains in the region.
Mohan said this morning at least 10 houses were destroyed in fresh landslides but there were no casualty as residents of the area had already been evacuated. He said Sikkim and Darjeeling remained cut-off as roads connecting them were blocked due to landslides and it would take at least two to three days to restore the traffic, provided weather improves.
With the Hillcart Road (NH-55) connecting Siliguri and Darjeeling totally blocked, attempts are being made to open the narrow road to Kurseong through Pankhabari but it is very difficult to say when normal traffic would be restored since the region is still being lashed by heavy rains, he said. Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee had yesterday expressed concern over the situation and asked the state Urban Development and Municipal Affairs Minister Asok Bhattacharya to rush to north Bengal immediately and oversee rescue and relief operations. Bureau Report