Sixteen army personnel were killed when a vehicle skidded off the road and fell into a gorge in North Sikkim near the Indo-China border on Friday. Four jawans have also been injured in this accident. According to a senior police officer, the injured have been airlifted to a military hospital in North Bengal where their treatment is going on.

According to the information, the accident took place at around 8 am in Gema 3, about 15 km from Lachen, located about 130 km from the state capital Gangtok.

Chungthang Sub-Divisional Police Officer (SDPO) Arun Thatal said that the army vehicle with 20 people was going towards the border posts. It seems that the vehicle skidded off the road while negotiating a curve in the Gema 3 area and fell down in a gorge. All 16 bodies have been recovered from the accident site. Thatal, who was present at the spot along with a police team from Lachen, said the condition of the four seriously injured army personnel remained critical.

The bodies of the martyred army personells are being taken to the Government STNM Hospital in Gangtok for post-mortem and later will be handed over to the army. He said that the regiment of the victims is yet to be traced. According to the police, the army vehicle was picking up army personnel on the way as it was going towards its destination.

Three Junior Commissioned Officers and 13 soldiers are among those who were martyred in this painful accident.

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North Sikkim: Defense Minister expressed deep sorrow

At the same time, Defense Minister Rajnath Singh has said that he is deeply saddened by the loss of lives of Indian Army personels due to a road accident in North Sikkim. The nation is deeply grateful to them for his service and commitment. My condolences to the bereaved families, he said praying for the speedy recovery of the injured.

-Bharat Express