Cold Spell Claims Homeless Man in Darjeeling Hills

Siliguri: A middle-aged homeless man has died of the severe cold spell that has gripped the Darjeeling Hills.

The dead body of the unidentified man was spotted by traders at the Motor Stand in the heart of Kalimpong town this morning. He was aged around 50-years and used to often spend the night on the veranda of shops in and around Motor Stand.

Police and the local people suspect that he died of the severe cold sometimes late on Tuesday night. There is no visible mark of injury on his body and this has emboldened the assumption that he has died of cold.

On being informed, police retrieved his dead body and sent it for post-mortem, which is a routine practice in case of unnatural death. Police said that they were trying to find out the identity of the deceased and his whereabouts.

Entire Darjeeling Hills, including Kalimpong, is witnessing a cold spell for the past one week or so. It has already snows-showered at Tiger Hills, Sandakfu, Phalut, etc.

The minimum temperature at Kalimpong yesterday was 7.5 degree Celsius, which was 2.5 notches below normal. The maximum temperature was 18 degree Celsius, that is, 2.4 notches below normal.

There is a forecast that the temperature will drop further by the end of December. While this turns the Hills into a sought-after destination for the tourists, for the homeless and the poor the cold spell brings down unimaginable sufferings.

https://newsmen.in