Thane, Hope is turning into anguish for families as they wait helplessly for any word on 10 pilgrims from Thane in Maharashtra who remain untraceable after flash floods tore through the Nepal‑China border, sweeping away checkpoints and severing all communication.
Distraught relatives of the missing persons have appealed to authorities for urgent intervention as a week-long communication blackout persists across the affected border areas. The Bhotekoshi River, which flows south from the Himalayan border region, carried the floodwaters downstream, sweeping away homes, vehicles, roads and bridges and damaging hydropower projects. the remaining 10 pilgrims, who were on the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra, have been missing after floodwaters struck near the Timure Chinese immigration checkpoint on August 26, destroying local communication infrastructure While two tourists returned home safely. Flash floods, triggered by a collapse or avalanche of ice and rock near the Nepal-Tibet border, devastated towns and villages in northern and central Nepal on August 26. The death toll from the devastating flash floods has gone over 1,000, with security forces recovering more bodies from eight districts of the Himalayan country. Around 4,000 people, including 583 foreigners and several security personnel, remain missing, according to authorities.
“We have been unable to make contact with them since the time the floods hit the area,” Sanjay Patankar, whose brother Satish Vinayak Patankar and sister-in-law Rekha Patankar are among those missing, said on Wednesday. Thane district authorities said they were coordinating with disaster response teams and tour operators in Nepal to locate the missing pilgrims.
