With the rescue teams recovering 20 more bodies from the debris of the collapsed houses and buildings in the quake hit Sikkim, the death toll in the natural calamity rose to 73 today amidst fears that the toll may go up further.

Aided by four Mi-17 helicopters of the IAF, dozens of rescue teams are on job to remove the debris and recover the trapped bodies but continuous rains are hampering the rescue work. The teams are yet to reach 15 major villages which were the worst hit in the earthquake that devastated the North District of the Sikkim state and border areas of Nepal, Tibet and Bangladesh on Sunday.

The magnitude of the earth quake was recorded as 6.8 on the Richter scale and the epicenter of the quake was traced to a place nearer to Sikkim capital city Gangtok. More than 300 people, injured in the earthquake were being treated in a number of hospitals.

5000 army personnel are engaged in the rescue work for the last four days. As the villages are scattered, the army personnel are finding it difficult to reach the villages quickly.  Landslides have taken place at several places on the national high way and the rescuers have to clear them first before proceeding to villages hit by the earthquake.

1000 relief camps have been set up for sheltering the people evacuated from several villages.