Death toll from flash floods in Indian Himalayas climbs to 74 with at least 100 still missing

The death toll from flash floods unleashed by a glacial lake bursting its banks in India’s Himalayas climbed to 74 on Monday with 101 people still missing days after the calamity struck, according to provincial officials.

Following days of torrential rain in the northeastern state of Sikkim, torrents of water swept down narrow river valleys from Lohnak Lake, in the northern part of the state, damaging a dam and wreaking destruction in villages and Rangpo town, about 50 km (30 miles) south of state capital Gangtok.

Rescuers have found 25 bodies in the state and bodies of eight army personnel were found in the neighboring downstream state of West Bengal, Sikkim’s chief secretary Vijay Bhushan Pathak told Reuters.

He said 101 people were still missing in the latest of a series of natural disasters caused by extreme weather events in the Himalayas. Fourteen army personnel were among the missing, a defense ministry statement said.