Two MI-17V5 helicopters left for Chaten from Pakyong airport near state capital Gangtok in the early morning after the weather cleared. Fifty-nine tourists were brought back to Gangtok from the rain-ravaged north Sikkim on Thursday morning as the rescue operation resumed after the weather cleared
IAF airlifts people. Pic/PTI
Fifty-nine tourists were brought back to Gangtok from the rain-ravaged north Sikkim on Thursday morning as the rescue operations resumed after the weather cleared, officials said. They were among the 109 tourists stranded in north Sikkim’s Lachung for nearly a week.
Two MI-17V5 helicopters left for Chaten from Pakyong airport near state capital Gangtok in the early morning after the weather cleared.
While 39 tourists returned on one copter, 20 returned on another, officials said. Sikkim Nationalised Transport (SNT) has deployed buses to help these rescued tourists reach Siliguri in West Bengal.
An additional helicopter has been kept on standby at Pakyong airport for those who want to travel to Bagdogra near Siliguri by air. The two helicopters flew to Chaten with personnel from the NDRF and Power Department, and engineers of Airtel, who would work in the region for restoring essential services, they said.
These 109 tourists were brought to Chaten for air evacuation, they added. The tourists were accommodated in hotels and at the Chaten military camp, an officer said.
Helicopter sorties from the Pakyong airport were suspended on Wednesday due to bad weather in north Sikkim, delaying evacuations. Three days ago, 1678 tourists were rescued from Lachung and Chungthang.
This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever
Subscribe today by clicking the link and stay updated with the latest news!" Click here!
