Bhubaneswar: Four family members of Odisha BJP Mahila Morcha secretary Itishree Jena, missing since May 29 after the SUV in which she was travelling along with seven others fell into the Teesta river, arrived in Odisha on Monday.
Two of her sisters, Manjulata Deo and Jharana Mahapatra, and two nieces, Jani and Guni, reached Jajpur Road railway station this morning.
Speaking to the media, Itishree’s elder sister said that 11 members of the family were holidaying in Sikkim when the incident took place. “Some other tourists who were travelling with us were reluctant to leave since it began raining at 6 pm, but the hotel owner refused to entertain them since the package was for a day. We then left the place in two vehicles. We could track the vehicle following us in which Itishree and others were travelling through its headlights. After covering a kilometre, our driver noticed that it was all dark behind us and the vehicle had disappeared. He got down and looked for the other vehicle. We even drove back to locate it but in vain,” she said while narrating the chilling incident.
The vehicle had plunged over 1,000 feet into the river in Mangan district near Munsithang, along the Lachen-Lachung highway. Those missing are the BJP leader, her elder son Sahil Jena (21), brother Ajit Kumar Nayak (45), and sister-in-law Sunita Nayak (42). Her younger son and nephew – Sairaj Jena and Swayam Supratim Nayak – were rescued with critical injuries and undergoing treatment at STNM Hospital in Gangtok.
She further stated that the kids told them that they were rescued from near the river. Two purses and mobile phones were recovered from the spot, but the others were nowhere to be found, she said.
She added that the Odisha government provided assistance and coordinated with its counterparts in Sikkim for their safe return to the state.
Meanwhile, the search operation is underway to trace the 8 missing persons, four from Odisha and two each from Tripura and Uttar Pradesh. Evacuation of around 1250 tourists stranded following landslides has also commenced after restoration of Chungthang–Phidang road in Mangan.
