As Sikkim rescue op winds down, the search continues for local hero

Treacherous searches, hundreds of rescues and dozens of bodies - two weeks after flash floods wrecked much of northern Sikkim, disaster relief forces have started winding down their operations. With the flood waters receding, only to reveal homes, roads, schools and hospitals clothed in mud and silt, most rescue teams across the impacted regions have started calling off their searches. Except a team of 31 rescuers looking for one man - Dr Pema Norden Lachungpa, a local hero in Chungthang district.

- Prawesh Lama

The team, from the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), has stayed back on the cuers looking for one man - Dr Pema Norden Lachungpa, a local hero in Chungthang district.

The team, from the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), has stayed back on the state government's request to look for the 47-year-old doctor, who is said to have helped save over a hundred people, as tragedy struck Chungthang- one of the districts that bore the brunt of the devastating flash floods.

Lachungpa worked as the deputy general manager (medical) at Sikkim Urja Limited, the agency that operated the Chungthang dam, which was swept away by the Teesta river's torrential waters early on October 4, after a glacial lake outburst flood (GLOF) in the Lhonak Lake upstream.