Two helicopters flew to north Sikkim on Thursday morning as the weather cleared to bring back the more than 100 tourists stranded there for nearly a week, officials said.

The MI-17V5 helicopters left for Chaten in north Sikkim from Pakyong Airport near state capital Gangtok along with personnel from the NDRF and Power Department, and engineers of Airtel, who would work in the rain-ravaged region for restoring essential services, they said.

Around 109 tourists stranded in north Sikkim’s Lachung for nearly a week were brought to Chaten for air evacuation, they added.

The tourists were accommodated in hotels and at the Chaten military camp, an officer said.

“They are now being prepared for air evacuation as and when the weather permits,” he said.
Helicopter sorties from the Pakyong airport were suspended on Wednesday due to bad weather in north Sikkim, delaying evacuations.

On Sunday, three Army personnel were killed and six soldiers went missing after landslides hit a military camp at Chaten. Several others were also injured.

The search operations for the six missing personnel have been hampered by extremely bad weather conditions, unstable ground, and the challenging high-altitude terrain, an official said.

The ongoing relief operations in north Sikkim faced a critical setback after two key bridges over the Taran Chu river, situated between Munshithang and Chaten, were washed away by incessant rains, severing motorable access to Chaten from Lachen.

At least 1,678 tourists were rescued from Lachung and Chungthang three days ago, while 33 others, including two US nationals, were successfully airlifted before the sorties were suspended.