GANGTOK: A 35 year old man, identified as Kushal Rai, was stuck in the middle of River Teesta for over 6 hours in Singtam town, some 30 kilometres from Gangtok.
Rai, who works at the Mankind Pharmaceutical company, had gone to collect firewood near the river. when he got stuck in a tall rock in the middle of the river. Soon, the water level started rising following rainfall in the higher regions, and Rai remained there for 6 hours before help could arrive.
The many stages of NHPC dams – from Teesta Stage V in Dikchu to Stage III in Chungthang in North Sikkim – are understood to have discharged the water downstream following the rain. All of the discharged water finally comes downhill and swells up near Singtam town.
Rai was finally rescued after six hours using an excavator, which extended a crane towards the rock and made a bridge to pull him back towards the river bank.
Rai is a permanent resident of Darjeeling and was working in the pharmaceutical company.
The rescue operation was carried out by Singtam and Temi Tarku Police officials, along with help from NHPC personnel and Indian Reserve Batallion.
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