Fifty-nine tourists were brought back to Gangtok from the rain-ravaged north Sikkim on Thursday morning as the rescue operations resumed after the weather cleared, officials said. They were among the 109 tourists stranded in north Sikkim’s Lachung for nearly a week.

Two MI-17V5 helicopters left for Chaten from Pakyong airport near state capital Gangtok in the early morning after the weather cleared. 

While 39 tourists returned on one copter, 20 returned on another, officials said. Sikkim Nationalised Transport (SNT) has deployed buses to help these rescued tourists reach Siliguri in West Bengal.