West Bengal on alert after Bhutan glacial lake outburst, authorities monitor Sankosh river

Parts of the Dooars region in North Bengal were placed on alert on Friday following reports of a glacial lake outburst in Bhutan, state officials familiar with the matter said.

The scale of the outburst and its potential impact downstream were not immediately known. According to Bhutanese media reports, the outburst occurred at Shintaphu glacial lake, located below Wakila Mountain in Gasa district. The Bhutan Broadcasting Service (BBS) reported that people had been asked to move to safer locations.

Shintaphu Lake is considered one of Bhutan’s potentially dangerous glacial lakes.

In West Bengal, authorities were closely monitoring areas along the Sankosh River in the Dooars, including Kumargram in Alipurduar district, the officials quoted earlier in the story said.

"Alert has been sounded in parts of Dooars, particularly near the Sankosh River," Bishal Lama, West Bengal minister of state for home and hill affairs, said.

In August, a catastrophic glacial collapse — an event in which a large mass of ice, rock and other debris breaks away from a glacier and rushes downhill — triggered unprecedented flash floods in Nepal. On August 26, a massive section of an overhanging glacier and rock broke away from Langtang Lirung mountain, unleashing a torrent of water, ice and debris downstream.

Attributed to a combination of geological and climatic factors, the disaster killed over 1,400 people, while thousands remain missing.