Army rescues tourists from the high altitude areas of East Sikkim

Amitava Banerjee | MP | 28 February 2019 | Darjeeling: The Indian Army once again came forward to rescue and evacuate stranded tourists from the high altitude areas of East Sikkim. More than 300 tourists were rescued and evacuated to the Sikkim capital Gangtok. The upper reaches of Sikkim had witnessed heavy snowfall on Wednesday.

There were around 50 to 60 vehicles stranded in Tsongmo lake area in East Sikkim owing to the heavy snowfall.

The Tsongmo Lake is located enroute to Nathula on the Indo-Tibet Autonomous Region border. The Indian Army carried out a rescue operation in spite of snow blizzard in the area, and evacuated all stranded tourists which included women, children and elderly persons to

safety.

There were a number of tourists who required immediate medical care due to the inclement weather and effect of high altitude.

They were evacuated in army ambulances and treatment provided.

The tourists were bought from Changgu to 17 Mile in army vehicles and subsequently evacuated to Gangtok on Wednesday, stated an Army release.

In the past also there have been numerous occasions when tourists were rescued by the Indian Army.