Kathmandu/ Bhubaneswar: A timely warning by Nepalese authorities prevented a potential tragedy along the swollen Trishuli River, rescuing 51 Indian nationals, including seven from Odisha, who were stranded by catastrophic flash floods and landslides while traveling from Kathmandu to Rasuwa.
They were later evacuated to safety in the southern city of Bhairahawa.
The group, comprising 43 tourists from Kerala, two from from Chandbali in Odisha’s Bhadrak district, one from Kolkata, and five support staff, was traveling uphill toward Rasuwa district on August 26 when floodwaters carrying ice, mud, and heavy boulders surged from Lehend Khola and Bhotekoshi river systems. The trip was organised by a Kolkata-based tour operator and the tourists had reach the Himalayan nation on August 22.
Alerted by local police to the rapidly worsening conditions, travel agency operator Kailash Biswal and tour member Ramesh Das guided their driver to reverse course just moments before the roads behind them caved in and submerged under the debris-laden torrents. After temporarily taking shelter uphill near the Manakamana temple, the group was escorted by Nepal Police and military personnel to the unaffected border city of Bhairahawa. The group is currently staying at a lodge there and plans to travel by bus to Gorakhpur in Uttar Pradesh before continuing by train to Kolkata and then onwards to their hometowns.
After driving about 70 km of their planned 200-km road journey from Kathmandu, the group was forced to turn back due to surging floodwaters and sudden mudslides, Kunal Das, one of the Bhadrak tourists, told the media.
While the 51 members of this contingent are confirmed safe, local authorities and rescue teams in Nepal continue searching for five other missing individuals from Odisha, including two from Bargarh, who remain unaccounted for following the widespread flood devastation across the region.
Gunnam Jayakrishna, mechanical engineer from Bargarh’s Jampali gram panchayat who had been working for Andtriz Hydropower over the past six years, narrowly survived the flash floods in Nepal’s Rasuwa district, his wife, Sai Bindu, and two-year-old daughter, Harixa, remain missing after floodwaters destroyed their settlement. “We received information that the family is missing in Nepal. We are in constant touch with their family members. Continuous efforts are being made by the state government to facilitate their safe rescue and return,” Bargarh Collector Aditya Goyal said.
The two other missing Odia natives are Sandeep Mohapatra and his wife, Siddharthi Kumari Sahu, who hail from Khordha district and have resided in Australia since 2018. The couple had traveled to Nepal on August 22 for a pilgrimage to Kailash Mansarovar. Their mobile phones have been switched off since Wednesday, with their last recorded location tracked near the Rasuwagadhi immigration check post along the Nepal-Tibet border. “We last spoke with them on Tuesday while they were on a bus. After news of the flash flood broke the following day, we tried reaching out, but their phones were unreachable,” said Sandeep’s younger brother.
Earlier, after a day of anxious silence following the Nepal flash floods, the families of trekkers Kulsum Nigar (20) and Deepika Ekka (32) from Odisha confirmed both girls are safe. Out of mobile network coverage, Kulsum managed to call her family on Thursday evening using her team leader’s phone from Dhorpatan, a remote valley 400 km away from the flood zone. The two friends had traveled to Nepal on August 22 with three other trekkers, last contacting their families on Tuesday before heading out from Pokhara. Prior to the reassuring call, the panicked families had sought help from the Indian Embassy, Pokhara tourist police, and the Odisha Parivar directorate to trace them.