What was planned as a carefully organised Kailash Mansarovar Yatra for a group of Indian nationals and NRIs took a tragic turn after a devastating flash flood struck Nepal’s Rasuwa district on Wednesday morning. The itinerary, shared by relatives, shows that the group had spent Tuesday night at Rasuwagadhi, a key transit point near the Nepal-China border, and was scheduled to cross into Tibet on Wednesday.
Hundreds of people, including Indian nationals and other foreign tourists travelling towards Kailash Mansarovar, were reported missing after the floods. The disaster sent a massive surge of water, mud and rocks through the border region, destroying roads, bridges, vehicles and settlements. The pilgrimage route, which had been planned around altitude acclimatisation, border formalities and rest days, was suddenly transformed into a disaster zone. Nepal authorities have been conducting search-and-rescue operations in extremely difficult conditions, with damaged roads, high river levels and heavy sediment hampering access to the worst-hit areas.
More than 100 of the nearly 1,300 people missing after massive floods in a border area of Nepal and China were on a pilgrimage to Mount Kailash, a sacred site in the Himalayas, The Associated Press reported. At the time of reporting, 270 people had been killed in flooding in the Himalayan border areas of India, Tibet and Nepal. The ministry of external affairs said on Thursday that 200 Indians were missing on the Tibet side, while 288 were missing in Nepal. The ministry also said that 21 Indians, all from Tamil Nadu, had been rescued from the Nepal side. But on the morning of August 26, just as the group was preparing to cross into Tibet, a catastrophic flash flood and debris flow struck the Rasuwagadhi-Timure area.
Initial reports suggested an earthquake may have triggered the disaster, but the US Geological Survey later said the seismic signal was generated by a glacial collapse and debris flow.
