TURA, June 19: At least three more persons are suspected to have perished in the rains that hit Rangsa Awe village near Nongalbibra in South Garo Hills. The body of one of the victims was recovered on Sunday.
The victim has been identified as Sengman Sangma of Kharkutta. With his death, the toll for South Garo H has increased to seven.
As per reports, the three labourers were in charge of managing a local plantation and had taken shelter there when heavy rainfall led to a landslide in which the three were buried. All three are suspected to have been killed though search and rescue operations are still under way in the area.
“We have been able to recover one of the bodies from the place of the incident. Search and rescue teams are on the spot and doing their best. The three were managing a plantation when the incident took place,” South Garo Hills Superintendent of Police Rituraj Ravi.
The incident apparently took place on Jun 17, the day when the entire Garo Hills region were devastated by massive rains, the likes of which were never seen in the district, at least since the 1960s. However, rescue operations were delayed since police did not receive the information on time.
Details of what exactly happened were not available as the place where the incident occurred does not have phone connectivity.
Meanwhile nearby Siju remains cut off from the rest of the region with both directions connecting the town being snapped. Locals, who were able to walk great distances to reach places with a network, informed that the area currently does not have electricity or mobile network.
“I had to walk all the way from Siju to Rongsa Awe, a distance of about 20 km, as there are only boulders where the road earlier stood. The kind of devastation has not been seen in Siju since the early 1960s as was told by our elders. I don’t think that road connectivity can be restored in less than a month,” Siju resident Ralseng Marak said.
He also stated that citizens, with money or without, have been facing the predicament of arranging food and shelter.
