Injured Sherpas in West Sikkim avalanche admitted to Siliguri Nursing Home

Mumbai/Gangtok, Oct 22 (IANS) Two mountaineers from Maharashtra, who were on a climbing expedition to the Himalayas in Sikkim, were killed when an avalanche hit them Monday, a member of the team said Wednesday.

The five-member team – sent by Chakram Hikers, Mulund – had gone to scale the 6,010-metre Mt. Tinchen Khang in western Sikkim, its vice-president Kiran Deshmukh told IANS here Wednesday evening.

The group included Mangesh Deshpande, 43, and Parag Pendharkar, 46, both of Pune, and Sadasivan Sekhar, 26, of Thane.

Both Deshpande and Sekhar have been killed, Deshmukh said.

There were two Mumbaikars – Anju Panikulam, 38, of Goregaon suburb, and Shantaram Pandit, 46, of Chembur suburb.

“On receipt of the first SOS, we organised search and rescue operations in the region which is presently witnessing very bad weather and lot of snow,” he said.

On Wednesday morning, two army helicopters made unsuccessful sorties to the region where the two victims are believed to have lost their lives.

However, on account of inclement weather conditions in the upper reaches, they could not land.

The Maharashtra team was accompanied by a five-member team of local guides-cum-porters on the expedition which had started more than 10 days ago.

Deshmukh said that the remoteness of the region coupled with bad weather is making even basic communication with the base camp and other agencies in Sikkim impossible.

According to an office-bearer who has rushed to Sikkim from Mumbai, the sole woman member – Anju and two associates could not make it to the peak on account of bad health.

The remaining two, accompanied by the guides, reached the peak and were returning when the avalanche struck.

Geyzing UPDATE 8.30pm: The injured two sherpas were shifted to Siliguri Nursing Home by Helicopter earlier today.Meanwhile it has been informed that Anju Panikulam did not participate for summit due to ill health ,Shantaram Pandit and Parag Pendharkar  who were team-members of two mountaineers killed in avalanche and both have sustained minor injuries but are in shock and trauma conditions and being treated for same locally.The bad weather conditions hasnot enabled recovery of bodies from mountains despite continued efforts of rescue team.

Five shops gutted down in Geyzing

GEYZING, October 21: The efficiency of Sikkim Fire Services was horribly exposed for the second time in one week as five shops cum residential building was razed to the ground by a fire in Nayabazaar area of Geyzing town in West Sikkim today morning.
The fire is said to have been triggered by a short-circuit at the house of Chewang Dorjee Bhutia at around 4:40 am in the morning and soon the fire spread rapidly devouring five shops rented out in the house destroying properties worth lakhs of rupees.
The house owner has claimed damages worth Rs. 2 lakhs while shopkeeper Chota Lal Prasad had to bear damages over Rs. 15 lakhs as his entire grocery items like potatoes and stationeries items were burnt down by the fire. Three other shopkeepers Chime Bhutia, Gaganath, Uma Sankar Prasad and Md Alam saw their shops razed to the ground by the fire.
The news of the fire had been immediately notified to the local cops who then alerted the fire station which is bit far from the town area. By the time the fire personnel arrived at the spot, much damage had been already done and nothing much could be saved due to lack of sufficient water available with the firemen.
The general public has demanded that the fire station should be relocated within the town area so as to have quicker response in future.
This is the second time that such an incident has been reported in Sikkim. Recently, a midnight inferno on October 13 had gutted down five shops in Rangpo and the State Fire Services department had received much flak from the people