Families are flying to Nepal after 33 British nationals missing in the Nepal flash floods were named on an official list released by Nepalese authorities on Friday, as rescue teams race against warnings of further flooding across the affected region.
Among those unaccounted for are a 13-year-old girl and a 14-year-old boy. The flood struck early on Wednesday in Rasuwa, north of Kathmandu, and has left multiple tour operators unable to contact clients who were travelling in the Nepal-Tibet border area at the time.
Tour groups among British nationals missing in Nepal floods
Fishtail Tours and Travels confirmed that Leena Bector, from Slough, was among 27 travellers linked to the company who remain unaccounted for. Her husband, Bhupesh Bector, told The Times: ‘I know that she’s in Nepal for sure, so even if they find her today or tomorrow, I need to be there.’
The Trekkers’ Society, a Nepalese tour operator, said nine British nationals on one of its tours to the sacred Hindu site of Mount Kailash were among those unaccounted for. They include four males aged 14, 50, 50 and 54, and five females aged 40, 46, 50, 50 and 53.
Alpine Eco Trek said it had been unable to establish contact with 12 Britons booked on a tour to Mount Kailash who were in the region when the floods struck. ITV News reported that Kumar Adhikari, manager of Alpine Eco Trek, said the group was crossing into Tibet from Nepal when they became trapped at the border as the flash floods hit. Four of the firm’s Nepali tour guides are also missing. The company’s travel logs, shared with the Press Association, listed a 13-year-old girl as the youngest person missing.
Adhikari told the BBC that he had been in contact with the British consulate and had forwarded copies of the missing clients’ passports to them.
The Independent reported that two married couples, Tara and Babar Gurung, and Thaneswar and Tejkumari Gurung, were among 55 people from a Leaf Holidays tour now missing. Tour companies including Alpine Eco Trek, The Trekkers’ Society, Himalayan Glacier US, Kailash Journeys and Fishtail Tours have all reported missing British nationals.
Relatives speak of desperate search for news
Rajendra Pudasaini, an Essex nurse, said his relatives were ‘swept away’ by the floods. ‘My wife’s auntie and uncle, and their granddaughter and her husband are missing, and my godson as well,’ he told PA Media. ‘They’re gone. The speed the water came, they couldn’t be saved, they were just swept away.’
Sarada Simkhada, a senior nurse at Darent Valley Hospital in Kent, is also among the missing, according to a local councillor. The Times said Simkhada was ‘following in the footsteps of thousands of Hindus this month in making the spiritual journey to Mount Kailash’.
Tatajana Phillips, from Folkestone in Kent, told the BBC she had been unable to contact her sister, Julija Jakovicka, who was near the Nepal-Tibet border when the flooding struck. Phillips said the last known location of her sister was in the border area an hour before the flash floods hit. ‘Then there is no more news,’ she said. Her sister, a mother-of-two living in Germany, had been in the country for a yoga and meditation retreat. ‘We are terribly worried,’ added Phillips’ husband Ben.
Pramod Poudel, from Uckfield in East Sussex, told the BBC he had heard nothing from his family since the flood hit on Wednesday. ‘It’s a very, very difficult time for me and for my family and my country at this moment, but obviously I have to go and see what’s happening there,’ he said. Poudel, who goes by the name Pedro, said he was travelling to Nepal because ‘my family needs me’.
Nabhi Das, a University of Kent graduate from Streatham in South London, has also been widely reported as missing in Nepal. Several of those unaccounted for had been making a pilgrimage to Mount Kailash, a sacred Hindu site.
Cause of Nepal flash floods and UK government response
Preliminary information suggested the flood was caused by an earthquake, but the US Geological Survey said further analysis indicated ‘the seismic energy was instead generated by a landslide.’ The Survey said a magnitude 5.2 seismic event caused by a ‘glacial collapse and debris flow’ occurred near the border at 08:37 local time (03:52 GMT) on Wednesday.
Prime Minister Andy Burnham said the UK had offered £5m to help the Nepalese government following the floods, describing it as a ‘very distressing and devastating situation’. He had previously urged Britons in the region to follow guidance from local authorities and UK travel advice.
Speaking on Thursday, King Charles said he and the Queen were ‘heartbroken’ and sent their ‘most profound sympathy’ to those affected. Nepalese authorities have warned of further flooding across the region as rescue efforts continue.
