From Tamil Nadu to West Bengal, appeals for contact as Nepal floods cut off 290 Indians

As many as 290 Indians remain unreachable in flood-hit Nepal, the ministry of external affairs ( MEA ) said on Thursday. According to the MEA’s latest update, issued at 8 pm on Thursday, 84 Indians were rescued, which included 63 workers of the Trishuli-I project and 21 people from Tamil Nadu who had travelled to Nepal for the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra .

Also read: Grim aerial footage captures Nepal floods’ trail of destruction, 800 still missing

As many as 83 pilgrims, mostly women, from Tamil Nadu , and three from Puducherry remained unreachable in Nepal on Thursday, said Tamil Nadu minister A Rajmohan.

In an announcement made in the state assembly, Rajmohan said overall 106 pilgrims, including three from Puducherry, had gone to Nepal under the Kailash Manasarovar Yatra in multiple groups. “Currently, 86 of them could not be traced due to the flash floods in Nepal,” he said.

Tamil Nadu chief minister C Joseph Vijay conducted a review meeting to oversee the relief measures, the government said.

Also read: 21 Tamil Nadu pilgrims stuck in Nepal flash floods safe, search on for 36

A group of 32 pilgrims, including from West Bengal who had gone for the Kailash-Manasarovar Yatra remained missing, said Dibyajyoti Basu, founder of Cholo Jai, the travel agency in Kolkata through which the tourists had gone to Nepal. “There were 30 tourists and two of our staff,” said Basu.

Sharmistha Bhowmik Roy, daughter-in-law of former Union minister Mukul Roy and 61-year-old Subhash Chandra Ghosh, a former employee of SAIL are among the missing people.

Sharmishta’s husband, Subhranshu, former TMC MLA from Bijpur in North 24 Parganas, told HT, “When we last spoke, she was at Kerung. She mostly spoke with the children. They were supposed to enter Tibet on Wednesday. After seeing the terrifying visuals of the flood washing away the immigration office at Kerung, I have been trying to call her. Her phone is switched off and there is no news of her. We are all very tensed,”

Subhojit Sen, Ghosh’s childhood friend told HT, “He went alone with the team; his wife and two daughters didn’t go. He last updated his status from Rasuwa around 6.14 am on Wednesday. But thereafter there is no update from him. We are trying to reach him. His phone is switched off.”

CM Suvendu Adhikari told reporters on Thursday, “We are in touch with the Indian embassy in Kathmandu . We are preparing for their [missing people’s] safe return.”

Also read: 32-member Kolkata group among many from West Bengal untraceable after Nepal disaster

At least 17 people, including 14 foreign nationals, who travelled from Gujarat are either missing or uncontactable, a State Emergency Operation Centre (SEOC) official aware of the development said on Thursday.

A person who was initially reported missing has since been confirmed safe, officials said.