Landslide cuts off north Sikkim yet again

GANGTOK: North Sikkim was cut off again due to a heavy landslide on the road linking worst-hit Mangan barely hours after it was cleared earlier in the day.

Official sources said the landslide occured 2 km ahead of Dikchu barely hours after troops and relief teams had opened the road to Mangan, the epicentre of the 6.8 temblor that rocked Sikkim and the northeastern, eastern and northern states.

The army is, however, continuing its serach for the bus which went missing with 22 passengers in north Sikkim.

Defence sources said the bus is expected to be at Tung which lies between Mangan and Chungthan.

Meanwhile, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee reached Sikkim by road from Siliguri at around 3.30 pm accompanied by the Union Minister of State for Shipping Mukul Roy.

She inspected Lumsey, a residential area in the town accomapnied by Sikkim Information and Public Relations Minister C B Karki and Lok Sabha MP P B Rai, official sources said.

She then went to the Central Referral Hospital, Manipal, here and interacted with the injured in the quake. She also visited the portion of the hospital damaged by the temblor.