Sikkim: Army Truck Falls Into Teesta River, One Injured, Search Operation Underway For Driver

The truck had just one passenger and the driver. While the passenger managed to jump off the vehicle when the accident took place, the driver went missing.

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New Delhi: A passenger sustained injuries and the driver went missing after an Indian Army truck, going from Sikkim’s Gangtok to Sevoke, skidded off the road and fell into Teesta river on Saturday, news agency ANI reported.

According to the report, the truck had just one passenger and the driver. While the passenger managed to jump off the vehicle when the accident took place, the driver went missing after the truck fell into the river.

The passenger sustained injuries and is undergoing treatment at Military Hospital.

“Indian Army truck while on operational duty moving from Gangtok towards Sevoke road skidded off the road and fell into Teesta River at 11:30 am today. One passenger and driver were on the truck. Passenger managed to jump out and sustained injuries. Search op for the driver and vehicle underway,” a statement issued by the Army said.

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“Army divers have been deployed to assist in rescue and search operations. SP Kalimpong, civilian divers and rafters are also assisting in the search and rescue operations. Army and civilian recovery cranes are assisting in pulling vehicle out of water,” it added.

An Army official said the reason behind the accident is yet to be ascertained.

In a similar incident last year, seven soldiers were killed after an army vehicle skidded off the road and fell into Shyok river in  Ladakh’s Turtuk sector.

According to reports, 26 soldiers were moving in an army truck from a transit camp at Partapur, where an Indian Army brigade is headquartered, to a forward location in an area the army calls Sub Sector Hanif.

The soldiers who sustained injuries were initially evacuated to 403 Field Hospital at Partapur, and later flown to Chandigarh for treatment at the Western Command Hospital, one of the army’s finest medical facilities in the country.