Rain havoc in north Bengal :59-year-old buried under landslide in Tukvar

EOI, DARJEELING, AUGUST 25, 2023 Fifty-nine-year-old Babulal Rai of Dara Gaon at Puttabung in Tukvar in the Darjeeling hills died after being buried in a landslide that swept half his house on Friday. 

Rai's body could be only recovered after three hours with the help of the fire brigade, police, civil defence and local residents. 

"The incident took place around 7.30 am when Babulal was in the kitchen while his wife and grand daughter were in another room. The kitchen part was buried by the landslide which came from above," said Roshan Rai, brother of Babulal. 

Roshan's house was also damaged by the landslide however none from the family was injured in the accident. 

Rangit 1 Gram Panchayat Pradhan, Mridula Rai said, "One more house was also damaged in the incident there and there is danger to six more houses there if rainfall continues. The 28 people of these houses have been shifted to the community hall and church." 

Gorkha Janmukti Morcha president Bimal Gurung along with leaders of the Bharatiya Gorkha Prajatantrik Morcha reached the spot. 

"This is a very unfortunate incident and we will provide whatever support we can," said Gurung. Meanwhile, another landslide damaged NH55 at St. Mary's Hill in Kurseong. The road is however open to vehicular traffic. 

The road connecting Rimbick-Lodhama to Manebhanjyang was also closed down due to landslide. Darjeeling District Magistrate S Ponnambalam said: "One person was killed in a landslide at Puttabung today morning. Minor landslides have occurred in a few locations and a few houses have been damaged. 

A major landslide occurred on NH 55 near St. Mary's in Kurseong. All roads have been cleared of traffic and vulnerable people have been shifted to safe places and given relief." Between Thursday evening and Friday evening, Darjeeling received 101 mm of rainfall while Kurseong received 147.2 mm of rain.