Army To Pay Tribute To 16 Soldiers Killed In Sikkim Accident At Bagdogra

Wreaths will be laid at a solemn ceremony to be held in West Bengal's Bagdogra on Saturday for the 16 Army personnel who died in a tragic road accident at Zema in North Sikkim, the Army said.

The 16 soldiers of the Indian Army lost their lives when the Army truck they were travelling in skidded down a steep slope at Zema in North Sikkim Friday morning, an Army statement said.

Wreaths will be laid on the remains of the soldiers at Bagdogra airport technical area on Saturday between 12.30 pm and 2 pm, it said.

The ill-fated Army truck was part of a three-vehicle convoy that was travelling from Chatten to Thangu, it said.

The vehicle skidded down a steep slope while negotiating a sharp turn, leading to the death of 16 Army men, including three junior commissioned officers, the statement said.

A rescue operation was immediately launched and four injured soldiers were air evacuated, it said.

The victims are Naib Subedar Chandan Kumar Mishra and Naib Subedar Omkar Singh of 285 Medical regiment, L/Havildar Gopinath Makur, Sepoy Sukha Ram, Havildar Charan Singh and Naik Ravinder Singh Thapa of 26 Mechanised Infantry, the Army said.

Mishra hailed from Khagaria in Bihar, while Omkar Singh was from Pathankot in Punjab, Makur from Bankura in West Bengal, Ram from Jodhpur in Rajasthan, Charan Singh from Lucknow in Uttar Pradesh and Thapa from Pantnagar in Uttarakhand.

From the 221 Field Regiment, Naik Vaisakh S and Naik Pramod Singh were among the victims, while from the 25 Grenadiers, four soldiers who perished in the accident are L/Naik Bhupendra Singh, Naik Shyam Singh Yadav, Naik Lokesh Kumar and Grenadier Vikas Kumar.

Vaisakh was from Palakkad in Kerala, Pramod Singh hailed from Ara in Bihar, Bhupendra Singh was from Eta, Yadav from Unnao, Lokesh Kumar from Muzaffarnagar, all three places in Uttar Pradesh, while Vikas Kumar was a resident of Fatehabad in Haryana.

Subedar Guman Singh and L/Havildar Arvind Singh from 8 Rajasthan Rifles, L/Naik Somvir Singh of 113 Engineer Regiment and L/Naik Manoj Kumar of 1871 Field Regiment were also among the soldiers who died in the accident, the Army said.

Guman Singh was a resident of Jaisalmer in Rajasthan, while Arvind Singh was from Bhiwani in Haryana, Somvir Singh hailed from Hissar in Haryana and Manoj Kumar from Jhunjhunu in Rajasthan.

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