Nepal floods: Brother & friend fly to Nepal in search of missing Tamil Nadu pilgrims

Nuwakot (Nepal): Helicopters started whirring again in Nuwakot on Saturday, after rescue operations were briefly halted on the previous day in the flash flood-hit northern Nepal amid reports of a lake overflowing at the Chinese border.

Racing against time, the choppers are now flying sorties to make the most of clear weather to look for any possible survivors in the border district of Rasuwa, and also ferry relief material to the army camp here from Kathmandu.

Across the barbed wires of the camp, a crowd has gathered. Among them, two tall young men are struggling to convince a Nepal Police officer to be let inside to take a look at those rescued and brought to the camp. The duo -- Mahmud Hussain and Daniel Ajith — carries a list of names and photos of dozens of Indian nationals from Tamil Nadu .

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The list has the details of 36 people — part of a larger group of 57, mostly senior citizens, who were on the Kailash Manasarovar Yatra. They were travelling in two buses towards Rasuwa when the flood waters hit the road.

While 21 passengers in one bus were lucky and survived the calamity, the passengers in the second bus are untraceable. The Indian Ambassador in Kathmandu met the survivors on Friday and made arrangements to send them back to Delhi.

The 'missing' pilgrims were under the guidance of young tour operator Syed Umar Farooq. Hussain and Ajith, Farooq's brother and childhood friend, respectively, travelled to Kathmandu from Kumbakonam, Tamil Nadu, on Thursday to trace the missing group.

"I first visited the hospitals in Kathmandu but there was no news. I met the Indian Embassy officials too, but they told me that the Nepal government has not asked for foreign security forces on the ground for rescue and search ops. So the Indian government’s hands are tied. Today we came to Nuwakot to verify if there are any Tamil people here. But we are not being allowed entry into the camp," says Hussain.

Ajith's point is that while the Nepal government insists that the names of those missing be checked on the home ministry portal, there may be rescued survivors who are unconscious or too traumatised to submit their details to local officials.

"Most people are losing hope because time is passing away. My brother is also missing. I also want to provide some information to families of the other 35 missing. They are also getting frustrated with no updates," says Hussain.

Indian official sources say this group is likely not among the 400 nationals who are stranded in China since they have telecom facilities and contacted their families.

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Meanwhile, a few hundred metres away from the army camp, the devastation unleashed by the Bhote Koshi River is increasingly visible. Houses, hotels, lodges, bridges, hydroelectric power plants – all swept away.

Some 100 Indians, mostly from Bihar, used to work here as daily wagers or small business and shop owners. Many of them ran for their lives to the upper reaches with small children and toddlers in hand when the flood warning came.

Many of them lost their entire homes and importantly, their documents including their registration cards with the Indian Embassy. It took them two days to walk back from difficult terrain to Trishuli Bazaar. Now they hardly have anything to eat or any place to stay.

Ram Kripal, from Motihari in Bihar, who has been earning a livelihood here for the past 10 years, says he held on to rough grass and tree branches to survive when the flood waters struck. "I want to appeal to Bihar Chief Minister Samrat Chaudhary to facilitate our return to our home state. We neither have clothes to wear nor anything to eat," he lamented.