Guwahati, Oct. 30 -- Nearly 12,000 people residing along the Sankosh River in West Bengal's Alipurduar district, downstream of Bhutan, were evacuated to safer places on Friday following a rise in the river's water level caused by a glacial lake outburst flood (GLOF) in the neighbouring Himalayan country, a senior official said.

The emergency measure came a day after a glacial lake in Bhutan's Gasa region overflowed its banks on Thursday evening. A huge volume of water carrying mud, rocks and debris then swept into river systems downstream, the official said.

The breach at Shintaphu Lake released close to 7.4 million cubic metres of water into Bhutan's Mo River, pushing up the water level of the Sankosh, which forms part of the boundary ...