Sikkim flash flood: Missing Odia jawan Saroj Kumar Das found dead; family identifies body

Bhubaneswar: Odia jawan Saroj Kumar Das who was among the 23 missing army personnel in a recent flash flood in Sikkim was found dead. His body was identified today by his elder brother Manoj. Saroj belonged to Kendudhipa of Dighi panchayat under Kamakhyanagar police limits in Dhenkanal.

A pall of gloom descended on Saroj’s village after his family members identified the body through a video call. The news of his martyrdom has shattered his family, the jawan’s elder brother stated.

“I got a phone call from the Army authorities who informed me that they have recovered five bodies so far. However, one of them is that of my brother,” the bereaved Manoj said to mediapersons.

Saroj joined as an Electronics and Mechanical Engineer (EME) jawan on September 21, 2009 and has worked in several states. He had married nearly seven months ago and earlier visited his village about two months ago. For the last time, Saroj talked over the mobile phone with his family yesterday night at around 10.00 pm. While talking, he said that he was in an army van as it was raining heavily.

The next morning, Saroj’s family got perturbed after they came to know from TV news that he had gone missing. Immediately, they tried to contact him but his mobile phone did not respond at all and showed ‘switched-off’. Later, they contacted the army unit and were confirmed about this.

The flood occurred in the Teesta River of Lachen Valley due to a sudden cloud burst over Lhonak Lake in North Sikkim. Following the flash flood and after the jawans went missing a search operation is on.