As per reports, five days after flash floods struck Sikkim, airborne rescue operations started for the first time on Monday morning to evacuate people stranded in remote locations such as Lachen and Lachung in north Sikkim.

Lachen is the base for tourists going to Gurudongmar Lake, a high-altitude lake situated at an altitude of 17,000 feet while Lachung is the stopover for tourists heading to Yumthang Valley.

“The first batch of people, who were evacuated from Lachen by choppers of the Indian Air Force, landed at Ringhim helipad in Mangan,” a top official of the Sikkim government informed.

In addition, the choppers after dropping the stranded people at Mangan returned to Lachen with essential supplies, and relief materials, as informed by the official.