Landslides in Darjeeling hit road links between Bengal, Sikkim

National Highway 10, considered the most crucial land link between West Bengal and Sikkim, suffered heavy damage as pouring rain triggered fresh landslides in northern Bengal's Darjeeling hills on Thursday, police said.

The landslides occurred in the evening at Sheti Jora, 7.5 km away from Siliguri, as also Untrishmari, both on NH10, said Rombhi police station in-charge Sujit Lama.

Before the landslide, the area saw heavy showers for two hours.

Altogether 35 people have died in landslides that struck all three hill sub-divisions of Darjeeling district this month. Eight people are still missing.

The National Disaster Response Force and the Sashastra Seema Bal were monitoring relief and rescue operations at Mirik under Darjeeling district's Kurseong sub-division.

The army was camping in the Kalimpong sub-division to monitor distribution of relief and rescue work.

A team from the Geological Survey of India was also at the site of the landslides.