No trace of 120 people at a North Sikkim village

Saibal Gupta
Tung (North Sikkim), Sep 21 (PTI) There is still no trace
of 120 residents of Bay village in North Sikkim, located
between Lachung and Chungthang, after Sunday's powerful quake
even as a flash flood at Lachung poses a fresh threat of
landslides.
"We find no trace as yet of 120 people living in 14 huts
at Bay village as the area is totally devastated. There is a
lot of debris ... and the residents have gone missing,"
National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) team in-charge Nisith
Upadhyay told PTI here.
He said four NDRF teams have fanned out to worst-hit
Lingu, Sakyang, Pentong and Bay villages in North Sikkim which
have been rendered almost inaccessible after the quake.
"We are afraid some bodies may have been trapped under
the flattened houses as boulders are lying strewn all over,"
he added.
According to S R Bhutia, Deputy Director of Horticultural
Society of Sikkim, who led the four teams, "we haven't found
any person in the village. We are searching for them."
Meanwhile, a flash flood at Lachung Chu river has posed a
threat of fresh landslides at Lachung, one of the worst-hit by
the quake, according to a Geological Survey of India officer.
"The flash flood will loosen the soil and may trigger
fresh landslides in the area," the GSI's Sikkim zone officer
said.
Forty personnel of the Reserve Army Engineering
regiment were working round-the-clock to clear the National
Sikkim Highway blocked by landslides.
Army rescuers gained further access to quake-hit areas
with the removal of debris collected on the 70-km
Gangtok-Mangan road following the temblor for another 15 KM
upto Tung.
Army sources said it would take 10 to 12 days more to
reach the affected villages after removing the rocks and
boulders blocking the road.
A portion of an entire hill had tumbled down on the
highway which leads to the Tibet border.
Personnel of the Army's engineering regiment have been
exploding dynamites to remove the huge boulders that came
hurtling down on the highway.
Road connectivity with Chungthang, Lachung and Lachen has
not yet been established.
Army and district administration's helicopters were
doing sorties not only to evacuate people, but to bring the
injured to the hospitals at Gangtok and Mangan and airdrop
food items.
At least 200 persons were airlifted from Chungthang to
Saffo and Gangtok during the day, included tourists and
employees of Air Infrastructure Construction Private limited,
which was working in Teesta Urja project in North district.
According to a senior geologist of the company Sautik
Basu, the employees had been shifted to Saffo from the project
site which had been rendered inaccessible.
The tunnel under construction had been flooded raising
fears that some bodies might lie trapped inside.
Basu said there was no electricity, no food, no drinking
water at the project site.