On Wednesday morning around 8:30am, 66-year-old Swapan Mondal, a retired school teacher from Basirhat in North 24 Parganas in West Bengal, had last sent a text message to his friend and former colleague Tapas Gupta. Ever since, Mondal and his wife Mou Mondal, also a retired school teacher, remain missing after the flash floods in Nepal and Tibet.
Mondal and his wife had reached Rasuwa in Nepal and were a part of a pilgrims’ team and were on their way to Kailash and Manasarovar in Tibet.
“He shared his picture with his wife wishing me the usual good morning message. They had reached Rasuwa. I replied. That was the last time I received any message from him. After the media broke the news of the flood in Nepal, I have been trying to reach them but to no avail. There was no good morning message from him this morning. I sent him a good morning message, but it wasn’t delivered. We are all very tense and concerned,” Gupta told HT over phone.
Deep Dive
What are the latest updates on the missing Indian pilgrims in Nepal due to the floods?
Why are so many pilgrims missing in the recent Nepal floods?
How are the authorities responding to the disaster affecting pilgrims in Nepal?
The couple’s son is in the US and has also been keeping in touch with Gupta. He also has been trying to reach his parents but failed.
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{{/usCountry}}Also Read: Nepal flash floods LIVE: Nepal says 823 out of contact, toll reaches 162; over 500 missing in Tibet
{{/usCountry}}The couple was part of a 32-member team of pilgrims from West Bengal. They had left Kolkata on August 21 and reached Kathmandu the next day.
“We have lost contact with them after the flood. There were 30 tourists and two of our staff. They were supposed to enter Tibet today. We have been trying to contact them since morning,” Dibyajyoti Basu, founder of Cholo Jai, a travel agency in Kolkata.
Also in the team was 61-year-old Subhash Chandra Ghosh, a former employee of SAIL and a resident of Durgapur in West Burdwan.
“He went alone with the team. His wife and two daughters didn’t go. He last updated his status from Rasuwa around 6:14am on Wednesday. But thereafter there is no update from him. We are all trying to reach him. His phone is switched off,” Subhojit Sen, Ghosh’s childhood friend, told HT.
Sen lives in Kolkata and is coordinating with the travel agency with whom Ghosh had gone to Kailash Manasarovar on pilgrimage along with the team.
A senior official of the West Bengal government said that the state administration has written to the Nepal government requesting it to share information on any resident from West Bengal who may have been killed, stranded, missing or rescued in the flash flood.
Helpline numbers
Meanwhile, the state police have set up a control room at its headquarters in Bhabani Bhawan. Two helplines 03324793311 and 9147890181 have been launched.
“The Government of West Bengal is actively coordinating with the Embassy of India in Kathmandu and proper Administrative channels. The exact number of missing or affected persons from West Bengal is currently being ascertained and verification is underway. Information regarding those stranded is being sought and closely monitored in real time to facilitate prompt assistance and rescue,” Suvendu Adhikari, chief minister, wrote on X.
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Floods washed away roads, bridges, houses, and power projects, killing 160 people and leaving at least 750 others unaccounted for after ice, mud, and rocks collapsed into a Himalayan river at the Nepal-China border near Tibet on Wednesday morning.
As many as 133 Indians and 37 non-resident Indians were among foreigners unaccounted for. Most of them were on the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra pilgrimage. At least 37 of them are from Tamil Nadu. The death toll was feared to rise.