By Tora Agarwala , Jatindra Dash and Praveen Paramasivam
NEW DELHI/CHENNAI, Aug 27 (Reuters) - Syed Sadique’s travel agency in southern India sent nearly 60 people on a pilgrimage to a Hindu holy site in China’s Tibet, via Nepal, and now three dozen of them are missing, including his tour-guide son, after a flash flood hit the border area.
Rescuers are searching for nearly 1,500 people, including more than 700 foreigners, missing across Nepal and Tibet after a wall of mud and rock collapsed into a Himalayan river on Wednesday. Indians make up the largest group of foreigners unaccounted for, followed by Australians, Americans, Britons, Canadians, Malaysians, South Koreans and Japanese.
At least 288 Indian nationals are missing in Nepal and another 200 remain stranded in China, India’s foreign ministry said on Thursday. Nepal said rescuers have located about 100 missing Indian visitors and 25 Chinese workers.
Anxious families across India and beyond have flooded government hotlines, tour operators and social media with appeals for information, including at Sadique’s Super Yathra Agency in India’s Tamil Nadu state.
He said the 57-member tour group that left for Nepal on Sunday had been due to enter Tibet on Wednesday after clearing immigration at the Nepal-China border.
“The group was travelling on three buses in Nepal,” he told Reuters. “A member of the group told us that one vehicle carrying about 20 people managed to get through safely, while passengers saw another bus plunge into a gorge.”
Sadique’s son, Sayed Umar Farook, is among the missing.
“We are hearing the water level is receding, but the area remains covered in mud,” he said. “We do not know how many people will return safely.”
MOUNT KAILASH REVERED BY HINDUS, BUDDHISTS
Many Indians travel through Nepal to Mount Kailash, a high-altitude site in Tibet revered by Hindus and Buddhists. Hindus believe it to be the eternal home of Lord Shiva and his wife Parvati.
On Wednesday morning, a massive surge of water slammed into Tibet’s Gyirong border crossing on the pilgrimage route, sweeping away scores of people, verified videos showed.
The worst-affected Rasuwa district in north-central Nepal is also a trekking hotspot. August is not a peak season, though authorities believe there were some.
However, the month falls within the peak Kailash Mansarovar pilgrimage season, when weather conditions and access routes into Tibet are most favourable.
Among the Tamil Nadu pilgrims was 62-year-old Vallynayagi, who was travelling on a bus that escaped. Her brother-in-law, A. Manoharan, told Reuters he had received a call from her around Wednesday noon saying they were safe.
“Three buses were travelling together when the mudslide hit. It appears the bus in front of them and the one behind them were both thrown off,” he said. “But somehow, the stretch of road where their bus was travelling was not washed away.”
Mud had accumulated inside the bus, Manoharan said, adding that the passengers managed to escape by climbing out and trekking up a hillside.
The pilgrims were initially sheltered at a military camp and were later airlifted to a location near Kathmandu, from where they were expected to travel by road to the capital, he said.
‘WE HAVE LOST HOPE’
India’s foreign ministry said it was coordinating with Nepal to assist its nationals affected by the floods. The Indian embassy in Kathmandu, along with authorities in several states including Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Andhra Pradesh, has set up helplines for families seeking information.
Among the missing are Sandeep Mohapatra and his wife, an Australia-based couple originally from the eastern Indian state of Odisha.
“We last spoke to them on August 23 and received a text message the next day. Since then, we have had no information about their whereabouts,” Sandeep’s cousin, Soumya Mohapatra, told Reuters.
“We have lost hope after hearing about the scale of the destruction and the number of deaths.”
ENTIRE GROUP MISSING
Indian spiritual leader Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev said 77 pilgrims of various nationalities, along with three staff members from his Isha Foundation, were among those missing.
The group had completed the pilgrimage and was clearing immigration on the Chinese side when contact was lost, Maa Gambhiri, coordinator at Isha Sacred Walks, told Indian news agency ANI.
“We spoke to the group leader at 9:05 a.m. (on Wednesday). But when we tried again 10 minutes later, we couldn’t reach him or anyone else. It appears the incident happened during that window,” she said.
Nepali tour operators said they were fielding desperate calls from families around the world.
One Kathmandu-based operator, Leaf Holidays Treks & Expeditions, said 46 clients and nine staff members were missing.
“I flew to the border by helicopter to gather information, but I could find nothing,” said managing director Gopal Thapa, whose brother is among the missing. “It is total destruction. The entire area is gone.”
“So many families are reaching out to me, but I have no news to give them. There is very little hope.”
(Additional reporting by Jose Devasia; Editing Aftab Ahmed, Krisha N. Das and Gareth Jones)
