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Nepal flash flood: Australia-based couple from Odisha among hundreds missing
Siddharthi Kumari Sahu and Sandeep Mohapatra’s relatives have been unable to contact them since the disaster struck
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An Australia-based couple from Odisha holidaying in Nepal was among hundreds of people missing across Nepal and Tibet after a wall of mud and rock collapsed into a Himalayan river, triggering floods and leaving at least 165 dead.
Siddharthi Kumari Sahu and Sandeep Mohapatra, from Odisha’s Khordha district and living in Australia since 2018, travelled to Nepal on August 22 for sightseeing. Their mobile phones have been switched off since Wednesday. Their last known location was near an immigration office. The couple’s relatives have been unable to contact them since the disaster struck.
Pritish Panda, an Odisha government officer on special duty with the department coordinating with the external affairs minister, said they were informed about the couple going missing after a helpline number was issued. “We are in touch with their family and are trying to collect information and forward it to the Indian Embassy [in Nepal].”
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The state government has set up a round-the-clock control room (7428135044, 8527580245, 011-23012807) at its guest house in Delhi to assist people from the state stranded or in distress in Nepal.
A group of students from Bhubaneswar in Nepal’s Pokhara was stranded after a football match.
Rakesh Ranjan Panda, a resident of Puri who was in Nepal with two friends for sightseeing and returned to India through Bihar’s Raxaul border, said the tragedy occurred around 100 km from where they were. “The roads were cut off as bridges were washed away. We faced a lot of difficulties in returning,” Panda said.
He said they met seven women from Odisha’s Jajpur district at Pashupatinath temple in the Nepalese capital of Kathmandu, who planned to travel to the mountains. “We have no idea about their whereabouts,” he said.
The floods cut off a rugged mountainous region popular with trekkers and pilgrims linking Lhasa in Tibet with Kathmandu. The death toll was feared to rise beyond 165.
Nepalese officials said almost 600 foreigners were among 826 people missing, including 177 from India. Chinese state broadcaster CCTV said 260 foreign nationals were among 558 missing in Tibet’s Gyirong.
Videos showed floodwaters and debris sweeping away dozens of people at a border crossing in Gyirong. Homes, roads, and power projects were washed away downstream in Nepal, prompting authorities in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh to sound a high alert.
