Forty-nine Indian nationals were among 261 foreigners still missing on Sunday, more than four days after a catastrophic flash flood struck Gyirong Port, a major border crossing between Tibet and Nepal.
Separately, 102 pilgrims from Nagpur and the wider Vidarbha region, who had travelled to Nepal on August 19 to visit the Pashupatinath temple and other sites, reached Nagpur railway station by train around 4.30 a.m. on Sunday, PTI reported.
They had stayed on in Kathmandu until August 27, a day after the floods struck, before making their way back via Janakpur, Danapur and Patna. Four other Vidarbha pilgrims had already returned by flight a day earlier.
Chinese officials said at a media briefing in Gyirong that the 261 unaccounted-for foreigners belonged to 23 countries, state-run news agency Xinhua reported.
The figures emerged after a joint search and cross-verification exercise by China’s foreign affairs, public security, culture and tourism, and emergency management departments.
Besides the 49 Indians, those missing include 104 Nepali nationals, 33 from Latvia, 18 from the United States, 15 from Britain, six each from Canada and Australia, four from South Africa, three each from Malaysia, Germany and Russia, two each from Ireland, Estonia, France, the Netherlands and New Zealand, and one each from Kazakhstan, Finland, Lithuania, Portugal, Ukraine, Spain and Hungary.
ALSO READ: Nepal Needs Up To $5 Billion To Rebuild After Devastating Floods, Says Finance Minister
Many of the missing Indians are believed to be pilgrims undertaking the Kailash Manasarovar Yatra, travel to which had picked up after an improvement in India-China ties.
Some were reportedly inside the immigration building at the Tibet-Nepal border when the flood struck the area on August 26, with videos of the structure being engulfed circulating widely online.
ALSO READ: Nepal Reverses Decision, Allows Foreign Rescue Experts After Bhotekoshi Floods
Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis was said to have remained in touch with Nepalese lawmaker Sandeep Rana to arrange the group’s return, according to the Chief Minister’s Office.
One of the pilgrims, 72-year-old Nirmala Pandey, remains hospitalised in Kathmandu after suffering a heart attack, with her son now by her side.
The floods have claimed at least 675 lives, with nearly 2,400 people still missing overall.
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