A 23-year-old lieutenant of the Indian army posted in north Sikkim died on Thursday after he dived into a swollen mountain stream to save a soldier who had fallen into water.

Lt. Shashank Tiwari from Ayodhya in Uttar Pradesh was commissioned on December 14 last year and inducted into the army’s Sikkim Scouts.

Sources said he was on a routine patrol with a team of five soldiers in the high-altitude terrain in north Sikkim. Tiwari was leading a route-opening patrol towards a tactical operating base, a key post that was prepared for future deployment.

Around 11am, soldier Stephan Subba lost his balance while crossing a wooden bridge near Lachung and was swept away by a powerful mountain stream.

Tiwari immediately jumped into the swollen stream to save Subba. Another soldier, Naik Pukar Katel, followed him, and together, they managed to rescue Subba, who was drowning.

“Lt. Tiwari was, however, swept away by the forceful current of the stream. Around 11.20am, his body was fished out by the patrol team, around 800 metres downstream,” said a source.

“His mortal remains have been shifted to Siliguri for further procedures,” added the source.

Lt. Gen. R.C. Tiwari, the general officer commanding-in-chief of the Eastern Command, condoled Tiwari’s death.

“Lt Shanshank Tiwari made supreme sacrifice while rescuing a fellow soldier from being swept away in a river during an operational patrol in HAA in #NorthSikkim. #Indian Army stands firmly with the bereaved family,” the Eastern Command wrote on X.

The deceased officer is survived by his parents and a sister, said a source.