5 days of silence: Indian families await word on loved ones missing in Nepal floods

Five days after devastating floods tore through parts of Nepal, families across India are still waiting for a phone call, a message or any information about loved ones who went missing during the Kailash Mansarovar pilgrimage or while working in the flood-hit region.

From Mumbai and Uttar Pradesh to Madhya Pradesh, families have been contacting embassies, government authorities and rescue teams, tracking every available lead and, in some cases, checking recovered bodies in the hope of finding their relatives.

For many, the wait has become increasingly agonising as communications remain disrupted and thousands of people are still unaccounted for after the August 26 disaster.

‘WE DON’T HAVE MUCH KNOWLEDGE ABOUT SHITAL’S WHEREABOUTS’

In Mumbai, Siddharth Kuvavala is still wearing a Rakhi sent to him by his cousin Shital Chohan on August 21.

Chohan, 48, an Indian-origin US citizen from Tennessee, was in Pasang Lhamu, Nepal, on August 26 when the floods struck. It was her second visit to Nepal for the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra, and she was travelling with a group of 50 people through Himalayan Glacier tour operators.

Her family has been able to establish her last known location through a tracker in her bag.

“Through a tracker in her bag we know that her last location was Pasang Lhamu, an area among worst hit by floods,” said Siddharth Kuvavala, Shital's cousin.

Shital's husband, Chetan, is in Tennessee and is in touch with US authorities, while her brother has travelled to Baroda to be with their elderly parents.

Shital had called her parents to Kathmandu and asked them to stay with her for a few days before she began her journey towards Mansarovar. Her parents have since returned to Baroda, but the family still has no clear information about her whereabouts.

“We don't have much knowledge about Shital’s whereabouts. We have reached out to Indians who have gone there for rescue with Shital’s information,” Kuvavala said.

He also called for better use of technology during such disasters.

“Using satellite phones by tourists and better use of technology is needed to make such search operations convenient,” he added.

For now, the Rakhi remains on his wrist as the family waits for news.

MAHARAJGANJ FAMILY SEARCHES FOR COUPLE

In Uttar Pradesh's Maharajganj, another family has spent days trying to trace a relative who disappeared in the same disaster.

Rishi Babu Pant and his wife Sharda Devi Pant, relatives of district head of the Pradhan Sangh Anil Joshi, had travelled to Nepal with a group of 22 people for the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra.

At around 8 am on the day of the disaster, the couple called Anil on his mobile phone and sent him a photograph.

They told him they were happy and that most of the process had been completed. They were at the immigration office and expected to leave for Kailash Mansarovar after some time.

Around an hour after that conversation, the family saw reports on television about the massive flood.

Since then, there has been no word from either Rishi Babu Pant or Sharda Devi Pant.

The relatives have remained in contact with the Chinese and Nepalese embassies and have been trying to obtain information from every possible source.

As bodies are recovered from the disaster zone, relatives are travelling to identify them and check whether they belong to their missing family members.

But the Pant family has so far found no trace of the couple.

The family continues to hope that the two will be found alive, even as the passage of time is making the wait increasingly difficult.

TWO RAISEN MEN MISSING FOR FIVE DAYS

In Madhya Pradesh's Raisen district, two young men who were working in Nepal have also been out of contact with their families since August 26.

Vishesh Rajput, a resident of Manjoos village in Sultanpur tehsil, and Himanshu Shakya, from Mandideep in Goharganj tehsil, were working at the Upper Trishuli-1 hydropower project in Nepal's Rasuwa district.

The two had reportedly reached Nepal for work through a company based in Mandideep.

After the devastating floods and landslides, their mobile phones stopped working.

A video from Vishesh's camp, reportedly sent by his engineer to his brother Vivek Rajput, shows him running on a road as the disaster unfolded.

Five days without contact have left both families deeply worried.

The families are waiting for information about the two young men's safety and have appealed to the Indian government and Nepal authorities to trace them and bring them back safely.

Chandrashekhar Srivastava, SDM Goharganj, is also among those involved in the efforts concerning the missing youths.

KANPUR FAMILY WAITS FOR THREE RELATIVES

In Uttar Pradesh's Kanpur, a family is waiting for three relatives who went missing while travelling with a 31-member group on the Kailash Mansarovar pilgrimage.

Ragini, a resident of P Road in Kanpur, had travelled with her husband Pankaj Mishra and her sister-in-law Poonam Mishra.

The family had first travelled to Nepal and visited Pashupatinath Temple. On August 25, Ragini spoke to her brother Praveen Dwivedi over the phone and told him that they had completed the darshan at Pashupatinath and were preparing to leave with their group for the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra.

“Our group has 31 people,” the family was told.

The following day, news of the floods triggered concern. When relatives tried calling them, none of their phones connected.

Initially, the family assumed the phones may have run out of battery or that the group could have been stuck somewhere along the mountainous route.

But days later, there was still no word.

Praveen has been praying at home for his sister, brother-in-law and sister-in-law to return safely.

The family has informed the Ministry of External Affairs and other government departments about the missing group.

Pankaj, who had received US citizenship around 15 years ago and worked in the IT sector, had travelled from the US to Kanpur before beginning the pilgrimage. His younger brother Dheeraj also works in the IT sector in the US.

The relatives had first stayed in Kanpur before travelling to Nepal.

Praveen said the family had approached the authorities, including the government, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and the Kanpur district administration, seeking help in tracing them.

For the family, the wait has now stretched into several days without a single confirmed update.

77 ISHA FOUNDATION PILGRIMS ALSO UNACCOUNTED FOR

The anguish of families is also being felt by those whose relatives were travelling with the Isha Foundation on the Kailash Mansarovar pilgrimage.

Seventy-seven pilgrims from an Isha Foundation group have remained unaccounted for after the flash flood struck the area near the China-Nepal border.

Maa Gambhiri, a coordinator with the group, told PTI that there had been no update about the 77 pilgrims for two days.

“There has been no update on the 77 missing Isha Foundation pilgrims for the last two days. The rescue teams are on the ground but there is still no information yet,” she said.

“There are 77 families waiting desperately for the answers. It is an emotional turmoil for them,” she added.

The group had participants from 19 nationalities. The foundation has contacted embassies in India, China and Nepal and approached various offices and ministries in both India and Nepal for information and assistance.

Spiritual leader Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev had also sought permission to travel to Gyirong, described as the ground zero of the disaster, to help with rescue efforts, but did not receive the necessary approval.

Sadhguru recalls the ‘silly discipline’

Sadhguru had earlier recalled how his group's strict habit of reaching the Tibet-Nepal border immigration centre early played out in the moments surrounding the disaster.

He said group leader Praveen called to inform him that everyone had reported at the immigration centre at 9:05 am.

The group deliberately tried to be the first at the centre because of the “chaos and confusion” at the Tibet-Nepal border, where arriving later could mean waiting for hours.

“So we want to be the first group. So when he reported, I said, ‘Good.’ I only wish we didn't have so much discipline. I wish we had gone there half an hour later, but we went there on time, and this struck,” Sadhguru said.

He said the first images showed water and debris reaching around 40 feet.

“I said, ‘This is okay. Our people are all in the immigration centre, so maybe it will flood the centre, maybe they'll lose their baggage, maybe they'll lose their passports, maybe they'll lose their clothes, I don't care, but they will stay alive,’” he recalled.

However, with 77 pilgrims still unaccounted for, there is no confirmation that the group as a whole escaped the disaster.

Sadhguru also said the same immigration building where his group had been just a week earlier was later washed away.

“This same building where we were for the immigration just a week ago, that entire building is washed away. And part of that town is washed away,” he said.

NEPAL DEATH TOLL RISES TO 788

The wait for families comes as Nepal continues to grapple with the scale of the disaster.

The death toll from the flash floods rose to 788 on Sunday, with bodies being recovered from eight affected districts.

More than 2,500 people remain missing, while 9,435 people have been rescued from flood-hit areas so far, according to Nepal's National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority.

An ice-rock avalanche following a glacial collapse near the Nepal-Tibet border sent a torrent of water, mud and debris downstream on August 26.

The flooding wiped out towns and villages, damaged crucial infrastructure and washed away hydropower stations across northern and central Nepal.

The disaster also killed 16 people on the Chinese side, while nearly 550 people remain missing in Tibet, according to Chinese media reports.

The NDRRMA has warned that water levels in the Bhotekoshi River have risen again.

“The water level in the flooded Bhotekoshi River has risen to some extent; all concerned are urged to take precautionary measures,” it said in a statement on Sunday.

The Bhotekoshi flows south from the Himalayan border region and carried the floodwaters downstream, causing widespread destruction on August 26.

MORE THAN 275 INDIANS STILL MISSING OR UNCONTACTABLE

The Ministry of External Affairs in New Delhi said on Saturday that more than 275 Indians and 128 people of Indian origin remained missing or non-contactable in Nepal.

On Sunday, the MEA shared a list of 149 people who had been rescued.

But for families like those in Mumbai, Maharajganj, Raisen and Kanpur, the numbers offer little relief.

They are still waiting for something far more personal - confirmation that their loved ones are alive.