Namchi, July 23: The death toll from Monday’s industrial accident at the NHPC Teesta Stage VI Hydropower Project in Sikkim has reached 25, with search operations concluding after teams retrieved the final remaining bodies from the subterranean site. A suspected methane gas explosion caused the catastrophic cave-in inside the Namchi district facility, trapping the labor force under severe environmental hazards.
First responders worked continuously through hazardous conditions to access the blast zone and reach those buried inside.
“All the bodies have now been recovered after 72 hours of continuous search operations,” affirmed KK Roy, a member of the rescue team from Eastern Coalfield Ltd.
Identification procedures revealed victims from several parts of the country, with laborers from West Bengal’s Jalpaiguri district and Jharkhand among those caught in the collapse. State agencies have mobilized to process the remains and assist surviving relatives.
“The Sikkim Government, district administration, and all concerned agencies continue to closely monitor the situation, while extending every possible support to the affected families,” maintained a state government official.
The disaster has prompted multi-tiered financial compensation for the victims’ households. The Prime Minister’s office announced 2 lakh rupees for the families of each deceased worker alongside 50,000 rupees for those injured. Chief Minister Prem Singh Tamang declared 4 lakh rupees in ex gratia for the families of the deceased and 50,000 rupees for the injured, while NHPC pledged 5 lakh rupees to the next of kin of each worker killed.
Technical assessments by NHPC indicated that gas pockets trapped within rock strata ruptured unexpectedly during excavation, releasing toxic fumes and triggering the blast that sealed the tunnel entrance.
