A family reunion during the Gorkhas’ biggest festival, Dashain, turned into a nightmare in Mirik with four people buried alive by a landslide that struck several hours before dawn on Sunday.
Among the dead were an entire family of three — Anup Pradhan, 42, wife Anita, 41, and daughter Sneha, 19 — from Salbari in Siliguri who were visiting their relatives at Dhargoan, Mirik.
The fourth victim was eight-year-old Arushi Chettri, who had insisted on sleeping with the Pradhans that night. She had come from Phapri busty in Siliguri with her uncle Niten Chhetri.
The death toll from Saturday night’s landslides and flash floods has risen to 33, with 10 more bodies recovered from the hills, Jalpaiguri and Cooch Behar. One of the dead is suspected to be a Bhutan resident.
Traffic has resumed on most hill roads, although trains remain suspended along Dooars routes. Many tourists, stuck in the hills on Sunday, were able to reach Siliguri on Monday.
Eighteen people from different parts of the region had gathered at Rajen Chhetri’s home in Mirik to celebrate the Dashain festival together.
“It was a joyous family reunion. During the day, the elders put tika on our foreheads, which was followed by a grand feast,” Ranjit Chhetri, a member of the family, said.
Dashain (or Durga Puja festivities) starts on Vijaya Dashami. From this day onwards, families make it a point to visit elders who bless them with a tika made from rice, curd and vermilion.
“Everyone chatted late into the evening as some of us were meeting after many years,” Ranjit said.
It was late when the family retired for the night. Of the 18 members, nine slept in two adjoining rooms that were hit the hardest by the landslide.
“I remember uncle (Anup) going to the kitchen to drink water around 2.30am. The landslide hit our house soon after he had returned to bed. I just heard a thud,” Ranjit said.
Among the nine sleeping in the two rooms, four died while five are being treated in hospital.
(L-R) Ranjit Chhetri, relative of people killed in landslide, narrate the incident in Shar Goan at Mirik. Arushi Chettri, 8, who lost life in landslide of Shar Goan at Mirik on Sunday. The Telegraph
The landslide struck between 2.45am and 3am, local people said. Boulders rolling down the hills destroyed five houses and damaged 10 others.
Neighbour Sandip Rai and his family of six managed to escape disaster in the nick
of time.
“I thought I heard some movement outside. My son and I went outside and saw that mud had started to slide,” Rai said.
He rushed inside and began pulling his family out of bed.
“My two daughters and wife came out of the house. I had to carry our grandmother out as she is slightly hard of hearing,” Rai said.
Two bodies — believed to be those of a couple — were found at Seeyok tea estate in the Darjeeling hills on Monday.
Four bodies were recovered in Cooch Behar — two from the River Torsha and two from a riverbank in Mathabhanga. Another four bodies were found in Bamandanga, Nagrakata block, Jalpaiguri.
Efforts are on to identify the victims, a source said.