The 12 hours of unrelenting rain have left the Darjeeling hills scarred and stunned. At least 20 people , including several children, were killed and many more injured after a string of powerful landslides swept through Mirik, Sukhiapokhri, Darjeeling and adjoining areas on Sunday night and into Monday, officials and rescue workers said. Roads were buried under mud, bridges snapped, villages were isolated and hundreds of tourists were left stranded in hotels and homestays.

The misty slopes of the “Queen of the Hill”, usually a picture of calm, became a scene of wreckage, flattened hamlets, half buried roads, broken houses, and overturned vehicles. Survivors have begun the grim work of clearing debris and searching for loved ones, even as rain and unstable ground complicate relief effo

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