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Amid the disastrous flash floods that struck Nepal on August 26, a British couple with Bengali roots is among the over 2,400 people missing, while their children continue to wait anxiously for any news of them.
Speaking to the United News of India, the couple’s daughter Aratrika Kar said she had last heard from her parents on Wednesday, Aug 26, the day the catastrophic flash floods struck Nepal.
Part of a travel group on a pilgrimage tour to the Kailash Mansarovar, her parents, Anal Kar (56), and Sanjukta Kar (50), had last messaged some friends and were set to cross over to Tibet that morning, when disaster struck.
Since then, there has been no contact with them or any news of them, said Aratrika.
Wracked with worry, she is currently in India along with her brother Sankhadeep. She said she has contacted the authorities but unfortunately with little to no results.
“I have contacted the authorities, and spoken to them but they have no news; they themselves don’t fully know everything,” she said.
The travel group comprised 31 people, which reportedly included personnel of the travel agency who organised the trip and tourists from Australia, the UK, New Zealand, South Africa and Malaysia.
A total of 33 British nationals are missing amid the disaster as of now.
According to the Indian Ministry of External Affairs, at least 320 Indians remain missing and around 400 others are stranded on the Chinese side following the devastating flash floods along the Nepal-Tibet border.
The disaster struck at about 8:40 am on Wednesday, when a huge surge swept down the Bhotekoshi and Trishuli river corridors, destroying roads, bridges, settlements and other infrastructure across central Nepal.
The death toll from the devastating floods has risen to 675, with more than 2,400 people still missing as thousands of security personnel and rescue workers continue searching areas ravaged by floods near the border with China.
Chinese state media has reported seven additional deaths in Tibet, bringing the combined death toll from the disaster in Nepal and Tibet to 682. The number of people reported missing in Nepal stands at 2,426, including 517 foreign nationals and 933 workers employed at hydropower projects along the river system hit by the floods.
Poor weather and difficult terrain continue to hamper aerial rescue efforts.
More than 3,700 people have so far been rescued in Nepal, according to authorities.
Chinese state media has separately reported that 558 people remain missing on the Chinese side of the border. Hundreds of those missing are foreign nationals who had travelled to the region to work, trek or for pilgrimage. (UNI)
