Sikkim DGP Jasbeer Singh said information about several places in North Sikkim was still sketchy as there was no or little connectivity with roads blocked.
As scenes of devastation unfolded in this worst-hit North Sikkim district two days after the powerful earthquake, the fate of many remote hamlets, including several which are popular among tourists, was still not known.
Chong Nagin, the village head or Tipon of Lachung, said that on the fateful day he was in Gangtok and has not been able to reach his village, a tourist attraction with several hotels and guesthouses where people stay on their way to Yumthang valley.
"My assistant Tendeep has sent news that the situation is horrible. I don't know how many have died or were injured," he said.
"Lachung is like a plateau surrounded by mountains. Huge rocks rained down on the village during the temblor and people did not know where to run."
He said that around 70 workers of MG Contractors were constructing a road from Damang to Chubakha there, but there was no news of them since Sunday.
"I am trying to reach Lachung today as I am desperate to know how my people are," Nagin said.
Though the road to Mangan from Gangtok was cleared today, the highway from here to Chungthang remained cut off.
The road divides from Chungthang and while one goes via Lachung to Yumthang and Yumesamdong, the other goes via Lachen to Thangu and Gurudongmar, all tourist attractions at heights upto 17,000 ft.
In another road construction site at Thangu, there was still no news of 70 labourers who were working on a 26-km road from Ziabong to Kerong.
"I have been able to reach upto here today, but have still not got any news of them," said Swapan Chakraborti, the manager of the Siliguri-based construction company.
This PTI correspondent came across a group of 10 construction workers from Tezpur in Assam who were walking down from Chungthang.
"As there is no connectivity, we started walking early today and have covered the 30km distance till evening to Mangan," said one of them, exhausted from the long trek.
A senior geologist Soutik Bose and his wife Debolina, working for a private firm for the Teesta project at Chungthang, 20km from the epicentre, have been missing since the earthquake, his mother-in law Rita Roy said from Kolkata over phone.
Sikkim DGP Jasbeer Singh said information about several places in North Sikkim was still sketchy as there was no or little connectivity with roads blocked and communication lines snapped in the earthquake.
"We are getting a very sketchy picture about Chungthang, Lachun and Lachen. Though the casualty figure is 50 at present, but it is likely to increase after we get access to these areas and find out the extent of damage," Singh said.
"The district collectors have been advised to reach these places by helicopters and after that we expect some information from this terrain," he said.
Airdropping of food was being done in some places like Changu in East Sikkim, Lachen and Chungthang in North Sikkim, he said. "However, we don't know how many we have been able to cater to."
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