Thirty-three UK nationals missing in Nepal floods include a 13-year-old girl and a 14-year-old boy, as the death toll from a devastating flash flood near the Nepal-Tibet border rose to 359 on Thursday.
Nepal’s National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority said more than 1,300 people are missing in total, with the Nepal Tourism Board reporting 644 tourists are out of contact following the disaster, which struck early on Wednesday in Rasuwa, north of the capital Kathmandu.
Alpine Eco Trek group among UK nationals missing in Nepal floods
Excursion company Alpine Eco Trek confirmed to the BBC that it has been unable to establish contact with a group of 12 Britons booked on a tour to Mount Kailash who were in the region when the floods struck. Travel logs shared with the Press Association show the ages of those missing range from 13 to 65, with the youngest member of the group the 13-year-old girl.
Four of the company’s Nepali tour guides are also missing. The company’s manager Kumar Adhikari said he was in contact with the guides until 08:40, when they were expected to be at Tibet’s immigration office, but their phones then went dead.
‘We were hoping that inside it was safe,’ Adhikari told PA, ‘but later the video came from China’s government which [showed] even Tibet’s side was hit by the flood.’
Adhikari said he was ‘slowly responding to’ the families of the missing Britons but had been unable to give them any updates. He confirmed he has been in contact with the British consulate and forwarded copies of the clients’ passports. ‘I feel so sad. We are just thinking about what to do next…We are in pain at the moment, deep pain,’ he said. The company said it had attempted to charter a rescue helicopter but was unable to fly due to poor conditions, and will continue to assist with rescue efforts.
Other tour operators report missing British citizens
The Trekkers’ Society, which organises tours in Nepal, Tibet and Bhutan, said nine UK nationals on a pilgrimage to Mount Kailash are missing after crossing the Nepal-Tibet border. Four males aged between 14 and 50 and five females aged between 40 and 53 remain unaccounted for. The society’s general manager said the group were at Chinese immigration at the border when the flood struck, and contact with their tour guide has since been lost.
Himalayan Glacier US told the BBC it has lost contact with a group of 47 guests and staff making a pilgrimage to Mount Kailash, considered the spiritual home of the Hindu god Shiva. Two British citizens were among that group. Kailash Journeys reported a group of 27 guests and staff missing, with a spokesperson saying they were last in contact early on Wednesday morning local time; a list of names provided to the BBC included two British men. Fishtail Tours, a Nepali travel agency, said one British person was also missing.
Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband said on Thursday that he had spoken to his Nepali counterpart and that the UK would do all it could to ‘help Nepal in its hour of need’. Miliband said he ‘offered financial, search and rescue and other help to aid the disaster response’. In a joint statement with Australia, the EU, Finland, France, Norway and Switzerland, the UK embassy in Nepal urged British nationals to ‘exercise caution in affected areas’.
Andy Burnham said the UK has offered £5m to help the Nepalese government, calling it a ‘very distressing and devastating situation’. The UK Foreign Office said it is working closely with Nepalese authorities following ‘concerning reports of British nationals who are missing’ and has encouraged Britons to follow local guidance and ‘remain alert to the changing situation’.
The flood was initially thought to have been caused by an earthquake, but the US Geological Survey said additional analysis indicated ‘the seismic energy was instead generated by a landslide’. It said a magnitude 5.2 seismic event caused by a ‘glacial collapse and debris flow’ occurred near the border at 08:37 local time on Wednesday. Dramatic CCTV footage showed a wall of water and mud striking buildings near a border crossing, while video filmed from inside a bus captured dozens of people fleeing a flood surge through the valley.
Chinese state media outlet CCTV said a mudslide in Tibet’s Gyirong killed three people and left 265 missing, with rescue efforts under way on that side of the border.
