MUMBAI: As Nepalese authorities are engaged in rescue operations following the flash floods, caused by the collapse of a glacier on Wednesday that killed at least 579, the Maharashtra government’s latest report states over 395 tourists from the state are stranded in various parts of the Himalayan country. more than 140 are on their journey back home While over 60 remain untraceable.
The state government established contact with them through the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) state chief Ravindra Chavan. Unfortunately, they may have been caught in the flash floods. “We hope they are stuck in areas which remain disconnected from other parts of Nepal. In such areas, only communication devices with the armed forces work. Many areas are still without communication facilities and remain disconnected as the roads have been washed away,” the officer added. The two were part of Dr Milind Chitley’s group to Mansarovar – all of whom are yet to be traced. “The tour operator has asked us not to come to Nepal and has two people monitoring the situation there.
“We have not been able to establish contact with over 60 of these tourists, whose family members from various districts have registered their names with us. An anxious Sanjay Patankar from Thane, whose brother Satish and sister-in-law Rekha are yet to be traced, said they had crossed over to Timure on August 26 and were at the immigration office when the area was hit by the flood.
A few others are completing the Mansarovar parikrama and will begin their return journey after that,” said an official from Mantralaya. Had they been safe, communication could have been established in the last two days,” said another officer from Mantralaya. “We have been unable to make contact with them since the time the floods hit the area,” Sanjay told HT. Many people who were crossing over have been rescued, but no one from Dr Chitley’s group has been traced yet,” he said. Information received from the district level is being passed on to the Ministry of External Affairs, according to officials from the state government’s disaster management cell. “Flights and trains are being arranged for those that have been traced with help of the central government,” the officer said.
The tourists, who were on the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra, were returning to Kathmandu on Friday. “They started their journey by road from Saga on Friday morning and are expected to reach Kathmandu through the Nyalam check-post on Saturday.
Similarly, a batch of 37 people from Thane, Pune, Alibag, Raigad and Dombivli will take a flight from Kathmandu on Saturday afternoon and are expected to reach Mumbai in the evening. Dr Nitin Gandhi, one of the 37 tourists, who HT spoke to, said, “We are shortly reaching Kathmandu by road and will be taking the flight on Saturday afternoon. We have another group of 16 people travelling with us from north and south Kashi, who will be travelling with us to Maharashtra.
All of us are safe.”
