With the recovery of two more bodies, the toll in landslide-battered Darjeeling district has risen to 40 even as 16 people still missing. The two bodies were pulled out from the debris at Mirik and Kalimpong and 16 people are missing from Kalimpong Block 1 and 2, an official of West Bengal's Disaster Management Department said. Rescue operations were underway in Darjeeling, Kalimpong and Kurseong sub divisions, where multiple landslides had also washed away highways and damaged homes
Darjeeling District Magistrate Anurag Srivastava said the landslide-affected people were put up in camps and three such camps were set up in Mirik where 200-250 families have been sheltered. National Disaster Response Team, Civil Defence personnel and local volunteers were engaged in the rescue work. Rescue teams from the Sashastra Seema Bal and the National Disaster Management Authority have also been pressed into service.
