Road breach and snow cut off Lachen; nearly 1,000 tourists stuck since Sunday
Telegraph | 8 April 2026
Around 1,000 tourists remain stranded at Lachen since the road cave-in near the Tarum Chu bridge in north Sikkim on Sunday.
The connectivity between Chungthang and Lachen has been completely cut off, and continuous snowfall along the alternative route through Dongkya La has halted the evacuation process.
The mountain pass is located about 200 kilometres from Gangtok and situated at an elevation of over 18,000 feet above sea level.
Sources in the tourism and civil aviation department of Sikkim said efforts are underway to evacuate the stranded passengers.
According to a source in the department, a team visited Dongkya La to assess the feasibility of evacuating the stranded tourists from Lachen. But they said that clearing the snow would take some time and the weather remains uncertain.
“Efforts are being undertaken to implement an alternative evacuation plan through transhipment from Tarum through a temporary footbridge,” the source added.
Officials of the Mangan district administration inspected a makeshift bamboo footbridge near the damaged stretch on Tuesday afternoon. The structure was erected for the rescue operation.
“No final decision has been taken for evacuation of tourists through this makeshift structure so far,” the source added.
Samrat Sanyal, the general secretary of Himalayan Hospitality and Tourism Development Network, an apex body of tourism stakeholders in the region, said they are keeping up with the day-to-day progress of the situation at Lachen.
“We are in close contact with our counterparts in the neighbouring state and are regularly monitoring updates of the evacuation process. What we have learned from the tourism department is that adverse weather at higher altitudes has impacted the rescue operation through alternative routes. The efforts are being taken to evacuate the tourists early,” Sanyal said.