The results are not final. At least 40 people have died in a Himalayan valley in northeast India and thousands more are left homeless after flash floods caused by the overflowing of a glacial lake on Wednesday. “Nineteen bodies have been found,” VB Pathak, the highest official in the state of Sikkim, told AFP. In neighboring West Bengal, 21 other bodies have been found in the past three days, district magistrate Shama Parveen told AFP.
The previous death toll announced by authorities on Thursday was at least 14, but search and rescue teams downstream recovered more bodies overnight as the waters moved towards the Bay of Bengal. Nearly 8,000 other people took shelter in makeshift relief camps in schools, government offices and guest houses, according to a Sikkim state statement.
Evacuation of waiting tourists
With weather conditions improving on Friday, “there could be a window of opportunity to evacuate stranded tourists by helicopter,” the statement added.
Lake Lhonak, which overflowed on Wednesday, causing significant destruction in a valley downstream, is located at the foot of a glacier near Kangchenjunga, the third highest peak in the world. The affected area, a remote mountainous region of the Himalayas, is near the border with Nepal and China.