MUMBAI: While more than 143 stranded citizens reached India safely by train and flights—with more expected to arrive Sunday morning—60 of the 404 total tourists and pilgrims remain untraceable. After establishing contact with them, 37 flew back to Mumbai on Saturday evening, while 102 are scheduled to reach Nagpur at 4.30 am on Sunday; four reached Nagpur on Saturday.
Dr Chitley’s group was at the immigration centre when the flash floods struck. We are verifying their details with respective districts. They are from Nashik, Pune, Mumbai and Ahilyanagar. “We are documenting the number of those stranded from various districts of Maharashtra based on information received from tourists and pilgrims or their relatives.
Hills and Trails update While the state government has not received any information about Dr Milind Chitley’s group of 60 tourists who went missing following the flash floods that hit the Rasuwagadhi immigration centre on the Nepal-Tibet border, an official statement was issued by Hills & Trails (co-founded by Chitley) and its Kathmandu-based partner Richa Treks about efforts to locate the missing. The agencies said that as of 5 pm on Saturday, no Indian national had been rescued or evacuated from the Rasuwagadhi immigration site. Around 644 people, including 517 foreign nationals and 127 Nepali citizens, were present at the site. State verifying details Meanwhile, an official from Mantralaya said, “We have also received a list of 149 people from across India – some of them are from Maharashtra. Another group of 45 people reached Ayodhya on Saturday after being stranded in Chitwan. Families of the missing have been asked to contact the Indian Embassy’s 24-hour helplines for information about their loved ones on: +977 9851316807, +977 9709107500, +977 9810326117.
“They were brought to Ayodhya via Lumbini as the roads towards Kathmandu were blocked due to flash floods. The State Disaster Management Cell has also received information about eight more tourists and pilgrims from Borivali and Andheri with whom they have not been able to establish contact due to disruption in communication services, officials said.
The statement said that the embassy has assured them that the Nepalese Army will first share information about Indian nationals with the embassy, which will then pass on updates about the missing pilgrims. If they remain untraceable, the numbers in that category will escalate,” said an official from Mantralaya. They will make the onward journeys to their respective cities by train from Ayodhya,” said an official. There may be people who have not informed us or the authorities yet; but the number is not expected to be high and there is no need to worry about them as they are presumed to be safe,” said an official.
Separately, Professor Charuhas Joshi of Hills & Trails and Sangay Gurung of Richa Treks visited the Indian Embassy in Kathmandu on Saturday to seek support for the rescue operation.
