1 killed and 1 injured in hill rain

Photo: Darjeelingtimes.com

Deep Gazmer, TNN | May 31, 2013, DARJEELING: Monsoon has claimed its first victim in Darjeeling on Thursday afternoon. Twenty-two-year-old ShubawanaChhetri of HimaliGaon near Singamari, 4 km from the town, died after a wall adjacent to her house crashed on her following a landslip on Thursday afternoon.
According to Monalisa Chhetri, mother of the deceased, the accident took place at around 12.30 in the afternoon. "Both of us were clearing out the rain water that had accumulated in front of our house. I was cleaning the toilet area while my daughter was taking care of the garden when I heard a huge thud. I rushed out and to my horror found the retaining wall near our house had collapsed on my daughter," said the mother.
"I managed to remove the debris with the help of the neighbours," she said with tears in her eyes. Her neighbours said that incessant rainfall since Wednesday night had damaged the wall which did not have proper cementing and supporting pillar.
Doctors at the Darjeeling district sadar hospital declared Shubhawana brought dead. "She (Shubhawana) died on her way to the hospital. So we declared her brought dead," said a senior doctor who was on duty when the body was brought to the hospital.
Around the same time, another girl of the Rose Bank area near Rajbari also sustained injuries in a similar incident. Landslide damaged a wall, which fell on that was erected to bar a temple fell on school going Sheetal Thapa (17) who was on her way to school. Thapa was reportedly on her way to school when the wall of a nearby temple came crashing on her. Doctors attending to her said she was out of danger and was later released after thorough check up and treatment.
Though there is no Met department in the Hills, records of the agriculture department pointed to 76.4 mm rainfall in last 24 hours in Darjeeling. "One person died and another was injured on Thursday," said Gopal Rai, an officer of the civil defense
However, the administration is on the alert and is keeping a close watch. "We are on the alert and on vigil. But so far the amount of rainfall is unlikely to cause major damage," said a senior official of the district administration.

TT, May 30: Subhawana Chhetri, 21, was killed when a wall collapsed during heavy rainfall at Himali Goan in Singamari near here around 2pm today. “She was trying to fill up a drum with rain water when a retention wall collapsed and she came under it,” said a relative.

A student of Loreto Convent, Sheetal Thapa, 17, was injured in a mudslip at Rose Bank. “The Class XII girl was partially buried in a mudslip when she was on her way to school around 7.30am. Local people pulled her out,” said an official of the district administration.

Heavy rain is expected in most places of north Bengal, including the Terai and the Dooars, tomorrow, said Gokul Chandra Debnath, director of the regional meteorological office at Alipore, Calcutta.