The Himal World

Gangtok, 11 February

Another bailey bridge collapsed as a truck passed through it in North Sikkim on Tuesday. There were, however, no reports of casualties. The Sangkalang Bridge that connected Mangan and Dzongu areas broke right in the middle and fell on the Teesta river below.

Officials have said that they have warned people to stay away from the area until further notice.

The bridge was built by the Trishakti Corps of the Indian Army and had come into operation from 1 January this year.

It is learnt that a truck belonging to the Border Roads Organization (BRO) was stuck in the broken bridge.

The BRO had built a bailey bridge in the area after the Teesta flash-flood in October 2023. However, it was washed away by another flood in June 2024. The Indian Army had rebuilt the Sangkalang bridge, which has a span of around 60 meters.

“The collapse of the Sangkalang bailey bridge has severed road connectivity between Mangan and Upper Dzongu. The bridge was very important as it also connected Chungthang, Lachung and Lachen in North Sikkim, (all popular tourist destinations in the Himalayan state). People will now have to travel to Dzongu and other parts of North Sikkim from Phidang near Dikchu to Lower Dzongu, which will take them about an hour and a half longer than Sangkalang,” a local official said.

“However, the Tung Naga road, which connects Chungthang directly from Mangan, is open, and the collapse of the Sangkalang bridge may not have such a great impact in connectivity to areas,” the official added.

In a video clip circulated on social media, a tourist from West Bengal was seen and heard saying that the bridge collapsed seconds after their vehicle crossed it. “Had not it been for some seconds, we would have gone down with the bridge,” he said.