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Atleast three people, including two women, died due to falling debris after heavy rains triggered a landslide in Darjeeling's Mirik area.
According to officials, the incident took place on Sunday (October 5) early morning, and the deceased have been identified as Bijendra Rai(62), Usha Rai(62) and Satma Lama(35). Rinchen Lama, son-in-law of the deceased, was sleeping outside, while the deceased's relatives were sleeping inside the house, when the fatal incident happened. Lama recalled how he could not even hear the landslide due to the heavy rains, and woke up early morning to see the house being flooded along with the debris. "I was sleeping outside, my mom (in law), dad (in law) and my sister had come here and were sleeping inside. It was raining heavily last night...When I woke at 6:25 AM, I saw that water had come into the house and saw that a landslide had happened", Rinchen Lama told ANI. "It is the same everywhere, across Darjeeling it is the same, there are many other relatives who have not reached till now", he added, recalling the difficult situation across Darjeeling. Meanwhile, atleast 7 people have died and more than a 100 others have been rescued following heavy rains, which triggered landslides in Darjeeling and the surrounding areas in West Bengal. The rains have wreaked havoc as the landslides have resulted in the collapse of a bridge, seven fatalities, two missing persons, and the closure of multiple roads. "7 dead bodies have already been recovered from the debris. We have information about two more people. Work is being done to recover their bodies too", said Kurseong's Additional Superintendent of Police Abhishek Roy. The National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) conducted flood and water rescue operations in the flood-affected areas and evacuated over 160 people following the heavy rains. According to the rescue team, a total of 105 people were evacuated by boats, while another 55 were rescued via zip lines in Jalpaiguri. The team also recovered one deceased individual during the operations. Earlier, President Droupadi Murmu expressed grief over the loss of lives in a bridge mishap in Darjeeling, caused by heavy rain and landslides. She offered condolences to the bereaved families, wished a speedy recovery to the injured, and prayed for the success of ongoing rescue and relief operations. (ANI)
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