Around 100 Nepalese nationals missing in Tibet following flash floods

KATHMNADU: Around 100 Nepalese nationals have been missing following the devastating flash floods that originated on the Nepal-Tibet border, Nepal’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lok Bahadur Chhetri has said.

More than 1,200 people have been killed while over 4,875 people remain missing a week after the flash floods devastated several towns and villages in the country.

At least 19 bodies, swept away in the Bhotekoshi River of Rasuwa district, were recovered in India, Chhetri said in a press briefing on Wednesday.

The bodies were swept away all the way from Bhotekoshi River through Trishuli and Narayani into India, he said.

The bodies were found near the Indian border adjoining Rupandehi and Nawalparasi West districts of Nepal. They are in the process of being handed over to the Nepalese authorities, Chhetri told journalists.

Around 100 Nepalese nationals have gone missing from Tibet during the flash floods, he said.

Around 3,000 Nepalese nationals who entered Tibet for pilgrimage and business purposes were stranded in Tibet.

More than 2,500 of them have safely returned to Nepal through Hilsa and Tatopani border points, said Chhetri, adding that some of them also returned by air.

There are still around 1,500 Nepalese nationals stranded at the Kerung border point of Tibet. Officials of the two countries are holding consultations regarding ways to evacuate them safely to Nepal, the Foreign Ministry spokesperson informed.

The flash floods, triggered by an ice-rock avalanche near the Nepal-Tibet border on August 26, devastated towns and villages in northern and central Nepal, leaving a trail of destruction and thousands of people missing.