Rescue teams backed by army engineers using explosives tried to force their way on Tuesday to the remote epicentre of a powerful Himalayan earthquake that killed 83 people in India, Nepal and Tibet.

India's most famous footballer Baichung Bhutia told Tuesday of his desperate eight-hour journey on foot and by bus to reach his pregnant wife after the earthquake in his home state of Sikkim.

Bhutia,

At least 50 people, including 23 in Sikkim, have been killed in the powerful earthquake that triggered widespread landslides and road blockages making rescue work on Monday more difficult in the worst-hit Himalayan state.

Fallen trees, downed power lines and rockfalls - the road to India's deadliest earthquake in a decade was strewn with the evidence of the tremor's destructive power.

Sunday's powerful 6.8 Himalayan q

Two army jawans were killed and military buildings damaged in the strong earthquake that rocked Sikkim on Sunday.

Three army vehicles and a bus with soldiers are also reported missing in the North Si

Taking advantage of the earthquake on Sunday, prisoners in Jalpaiguri jail tried to escape as some of the doors and windows collapsed under the impact of the tremor, prison authorities said.

Nearly

Over 5,000 troops and nine helicopters have been dispatched by the army to carry out rescue and relief operations in quake-hit Sikkim, officials said today.

"Around 5,000 troops in 105 columns a

The death toll in the earthquake rose to 19 in Sikkim on Monday as the army took lead of rescue operations along with the local administration, officials said.

The casualties have occurred mostly in

Here is a list of major earthquakes to have struck India following a quake in Sikkim that rocked northeast India and the surrounding region late on Sunday.

September 18, 2011: Border between India's

An earthquake of 4.3 magnitude on the Richter scale shook parts of Meghalaya today, the seismic observatory here said.

The mild intensity quake was recorded at 12.52 AM and its epicentre was lo