Bhubaneswar: A pall of gloom descended on Kendudhipa village in Odisha’s Dhenkanal district after elder brother of jawan Saroj Kumar Das, who had been missing in Sikkim flash floods, identified his body through a video call on Thursday.
“I got a phone call from the Army authorities informing about five bodies of personnel being recovered so far. One of them was that of my brother,” bereaved Manoj told mediapersons.
Fourteen people died while 102 others, including 23 Army personnel, went missing after the cloudburst over Lhonak Lake in North Sikkim triggered a flash flood in the Teesta river basin on October 4. One of the jawans was found alive in the evening. However, Saroj was not that lucky.
A havildar in the Indian Army, Saroj was recruited in the Corps of Electronics and Mechanical Engineers (EME) wing of the Indian army in 2012. He had married just 7 months back and got a promotion in September, his brother had earlier to the media.
He had visited home about two months back and the family had received a call from him a day before the incident, Manoj added.
