Seven tourists from Bhadrak district were among a group of 51 people evacuated to safety in southern Nepal after flash floods and landslides disrupted their journey, members of the group said on Saturday.
The tourists, who were travelling with a Kolkata-based tour operator, were shifted to Bhairahawa (Siddharthanagar) after taking shelter near the Manakamana Temple when rising waters in the Trishuli River and landslides made the route impassable.
The group comprised 43 tourists from Kerala, seven from Chandbali in Odisha’s Bhadrak district, tour operator Kailash Biswal and support staff, including cooks and coordinators.
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Kunal Das, one of the Bhadrak tourists, said they planned to travel about 200km from Kathmandu by road, but were forced to abandon the journey after covering around 70km as floodwaters surged and mudslides struck the area.
“We were followed by floodwaters and mudslides. We finally took shelter at the Manakamana Temple. We were completely out of our minds and didn’t know what to do. Kailash helped us and brought us to safety,” members of the group said.
As the Trishuli River swelled and conditions deteriorated, Nepal police and local authorities evacuated the tourists from the temple area using a ropeway and transported them to Bhairahawa, where they are currently staying at a lodge.
{{/usCountry}}As the Trishuli River swelled and conditions deteriorated, Nepal police and local authorities evacuated the tourists from the temple area using a ropeway and transported them to Bhairahawa, where they are currently staying at a lodge.
{{/usCountry}}While the 51-member group has been evacuated and is safe, five other people from Odisha remain missing in Nepal following the flash floods, officials said.
The number of missing persons from the state rose to five after a couple and their two-year-old daughter from Bargarh district were reported missing. The death toll in Nepal has risen to 626, with 2,424 people reported missing.
Gunnam Jayakrishna, his wife Gunnam Sai Bindu Kumari and their two-year-old daughter have been missing, officials said. Jayakrishna was working with Andtriz Hydropower in Upper Trishuli, Nepal, for the past six years, according to his family.
Jayakrishna’s family has been unable to establish contact with them despite repeated attempts, prompting the Bargarh district administration to alert the Odisha government.
“We received information that the family is missing in Nepal. We are in constant touch with their family members. Continuous efforts are being made by the state government to facilitate their safe rescue and return,” Bargarh district collector Aditya Goyal said.
The other two missing Odias, Sandeep Mohapatra and his wife Siddharthi Kumari Sahu, are from Khordha district and have been living in Australia since 2018. They travelled to Nepal on August 22 for a pilgrimage to Kailash Mansarovar.
Their mobile phones have been switched off since Wednesday, and their last known location was near an immigration office at Rasuwagadhi on the Nepal-Tibet border, according to relatives.
“We last spoke on Tuesday. They were travelling in a bus. The next day, after we learnt about the flash flood, we tried to contact them, but they were unreachable,” Sandeep’s younger brother said.