School trip car ride kills teacher in Sikkim

The car carrying the three Nadia teachers in Sikkim

TT, 25 May 2016, Gangtok: A teacher of a Nadia school died last night when her car rolled 100ft into a gorge in south Sikkim.

Suparna Biswas, 30, was travelling to another branch of Lord Jesus Ministry School at Namchi in Sikkim. In the car were Suparna's sister Sritikona, who worked in the same school, and the prin-cipal Carlton Rikson. Sritikona and Rikson are seriously injured.

Police in Sikkim said rash driving could not be ruled out.

The accident happened around 7pm on Kitam Road between Jorethang and Melli in south Sikkim.

Suparna and Sritikona are from Gangnapur village in Nadia.

The trio with the driver were taken to Namchi district hospital where Suparna was pronounced brought dead. The others are being treated there.

"The tourists had hired the taxi from Jorethang. They were coming from Darjeeling and heading towards Gangtok," said Jorethang inspector Kinga Bhutia.

A case of reckless driving and negligence has been registered against the driver, Ashish Bardewa, at Jorethang police station.

The Lord Jesus Ministry School in Gangnapur is run by the Christian community members.

The school also has a branch at Namchi.

School sources in Gangnapur said Suparna was a teacher of Bengali.

The trio left Gangnapur, around 80km from Calcutta, on Sunday evening along with 10 students of the school for an excursion.

The students were in a different vehicle which reached Namchi safely.

Suparna's brother Sandeep, a third-year BA student of Ranaghat College, rushed to Namchi this morning with some relatives and friends.

"I received a call late in the night about the accident. I informed my relatives and friends and left for Namchi immediately. My sisters left on Sunday and were scheduled to return by this Saturday," Sandeep said.