For families of those who had travelled to Nepal for the Kailash Mansarovar pilgrimage, from Tamil Nadu and Puducherry, the hours since the disaster have become extremely painful.
An unending wait for a call, a message, a name on a rescue list, or even a small piece of information that might confirm that their loved ones are alive. J Selvaraj, a resident of Kumbakonam, has been waiting near the phone since last evening, browsing news reports on every television channel, calling every other person in Delhi whom he had known. “We were trying to contact my brother from the morning after the news of flash floods. But we were not able to reach him yet. We are worried,” says Selvaraj, whose brother J Thirumalairajan had travelled to Kailash Mansarovar on a pilgrimage.
Selvaraj’s anxiety is shared by the homes of over 103 tourists from across Tamil Nadu who had travelled to Kailash Mansarovar. Families across Tamil Nadu are anxiously awaiting news of relatives who remain unaccounted for after devastating flash floods struck Nepal’s Rasuwa district near the Tibet border, disrupting a major route used by Kailash Mansarovar pilgrims. “We do not know if they are safe. We only want to know that they are alive,” says the family of Illavarasi, who was excited about the Kailash trip before setting out. She had informed her family that she was fine and had started the trip to Mansarovar. Then came the news that the bus in which she was travelling could not be traced. For families like Ilavarasi, the word “missing” carries a terrible ambiguity. For relatives in Tamil Nadu, the biggest challenge has been the absence of reliable communication.
The flash flood swept through the Bhote Koshi river corridor after an ice and rock avalanche on the Tibetan side of the border. The torrent destroyed roads, bridges and buildings and cut off the route towards the China border. Rescue operations have been hampered by the mountainous terrain and damaged infrastructure.
Relatives of a TN family said they had received brief communications before contact was lost. Vallinayagi, a 62-year-old pilgrim from Tamil Nadu, was travelling in a bus that managed to escape the worst of the flooding. Survivors from the bus reportedly reached safety after trekking up a hillside and were later taken towards Kathmandu. The uncertainty has been particularly painful for families whose relatives were travelling in buses that were behind the vehicle that escaped.
On Thursday, as terrible news about several batches of pilgrims from Chennai and other parts of Tamil Nadu began flowing in, Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay met with his cabinet colleagues and the officers to establish coordination with the Indian embassy in Nepal and also with the Union government to trace the missing Tamilians.
According to the Tamil Nadu government, at least 103 people from the state had travelled to Nepal for the Kailash Mansarovar pilgrimage. Of these, 20 have been rescued and brought to safety, while the whereabouts of 86 people are still being ascertained. School Education Minister A Rajmohan said the figures have been changing as authorities receive fresh information from Nepal and tour operators.
The changing figures actually reflects the difficulty of establishing contact with people in the disaster zone. Roads and bridges have been washed away and communication networks disrupted, leaving families dependent on government officials, tour operators and diplomatic channels for updates.
One of the worst-affected is a 57-member contingent from Tamil Nadu and Puducherry travelling through Nepal on the Kailash Mansarovar route. Twenty members of the group were reported safe after taking refuge at an Armed Police Force post in Timure. The remaining members were initially unaccounted for after the buses carrying the pilgrims encountered the flash floods.
The pilgrims had travelled from Tamil Nadu through a Kumbakonam-based tour operator. A second group of 49 pilgrims travelled from Chennai, taking the total number of pilgrims from Tamil Nadu and Puducherry being monitored by the state government to 106. “Tamil Nadu authorities are coordinating with the Union government, the Indian Embassy and Nepalese agencies to establish the whereabouts of the missing pilgrims and arrange their evacuation,” Rajmohan informed.
The state government has also come under political pressure to intensify the rescue operation, with opposition parties demanding faster intervention and better information about the stranded pilgrims. The government has said that Nepalese security forces, disaster-management teams and helicopter operators are involved in the rescue effort. The Tamil Nadu pilgrims are among hundreds of Indian and foreign nationals caught up in a disaster that has devastated parts of Nepal and Tibet.
Isha Foundation pilgrims caught in Nepal floods
At least 77 pilgrims travelling on an Isha Foundation-organised Kailash Mansarovar pilgrimage were reported missing after a devastating flash flood struck the Gyirong immigration centre on the Tibet side of the Nepal-China border on August 26. The pilgrims were on their return journey when the flood hit.
According to the foundation, the 77 pilgrims were among a much larger group travelling as part of its Kailash pilgrimage programme. Isha said that 495 pilgrims had already returned safely, while 743 remained in Tibet and 148 were in Nepal at the time of its initial update. Three volunteers were also reported to be at Timure in Nepal.
A visibly shaken Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev, in a video said the Isha Kailash pilgrimage group was at an immigration centre when the flood struck. The building and much of the surrounding town were inundated, and the organisation initially had no information about the whereabouts of the 77 pilgrims. He said Isha's volunteers and support teams were doing everything possible to assist the rescue operation, while the organisation was working with authorities to obtain access to the affected area. Sadhguru also said he was seeking permission to personally reach the disaster site and participate in the search, despite the risks.
“At 9.05 am we received a message from Praveen, the Ishanga group leader, that they had reached the immigration office. After that, this happened at 9:14 am.” Stating that the building, where he himself had completed immigration procedures a week earlier had been washed away, Jaggi Vasudev said that the entire Ishana group should have been in that building. “There is no official confirmation of their fate. The group comprised 34 men and 46 women from more than 20 countries, including 22 from the United States, 12 from Canada, 11 from Australia and nine from Britain.” He said embassies were being contacted and permission was being sought for him and a team to enter the affected area.
