Death rolls downhill, buries many in Darjeeling

Torrential overnight rain has triggered the worst landslides in Darjeeling district in half a century, leaving at least 41 people dead or missing in Kurseong and Kalimpong. 

The worst-affected division is Singbuli tea garden’s Tingling, a kilometre from a must-stop picturesque viewpoint between Mirik and Siliguri. By evening, 20 bodies were found in the district. Eleven are missing. 

At least 21 people died in Mirik, eight in Kalimpong and one in Darjeeling sub-division. The debris of mud and rock barrelled down like a gigantic lawnmower on what was once an uninterrupted expanse of green, ploughing an earth-brown streak at Limbu Gaon in Tingling. 

Eight houses that stood on the slope in Tingling, mostly belonging to tea workers, were washed away between 2am and 3am on Wednesday.

Report by Vivek Chhetri and pictures by Suman Tamang