As many as 10 civilians have died and 82 people, including 22 Army personnel, are missing after a cloudburst over the Lhonak Lake in north Sikkim caused flash floods in the Teesta river. The flooding has resulted in the collapse of 14 bridges and the potential stranding of over 3,000 tourists. The cloudburst occurred in the early hours of Wednesday, causing parts of a dam at Chungthang to be swept away, exacerbating the flooding downstream. The Sikkim government has declared the calamity a disaster and the Indian Army has launched a search-and-rescue operation to locate the missing personnel. One soldier has been rescued so far.
