‘We don’t know what’s going on’: Family of Singaporeans missing in Nepal-Tibet disaster pleads for answers
Nine Singaporeans are among more than 1,000 people missing after flash floods hit the Nepal-Tibet border.
Ms Kenisha Rawla (left) and Ms Parnika Rawla are appealing for information on their parents, both of whom are missing in the Nepal-Tibet floods.
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SINGAPORE: Family members of Singaporeans missing in the Nepal-Tibet disaster are appealing for more information, saying they have received no updates from the authorities on rescue efforts.
Ms Kenisha Rawla, 15, and Ms Parnika Rawla, 20, told CNA they have struggled to get updates about their parents, Ms Shubakshi Rawla, 49, and Mr Sumit Rawla, 53.
Ms Parnika last spoke to her parents on FaceTime at around 6.40am on Wednesday, shortly after she landed in New Delhi from Singapore. Her mother asked how her flight was and said she was going to get tea with their father and friends.
The couple had flown to Kathmandu on Aug 23 for their Kailash Yatra pilgrimage and were staying at Hotel Kailash in Timure. They were last seen at a tea stall in the Rasuwagadhi border area in Nepal, their family said.
Speaking to CNA on Thursday night, Ms Parnika said the family had not received any updates from the authorities.
“Nobody’s telling us anything. We don’t know what’s going on. We don’t know if they’re rescued, where they are, if the hotel they’re at has been searched yet,” she said.
“We keep asking people, and people keep giving us phone numbers, and those phone numbers are not reachable. We have no information. We’re sad and we’re confused.”
Ms Dipti Bhatnagar, Ms Shubakshi’s sister, said the couple had called her to wish her a happy birthday before preparing to set off for the Tibet leg of the trip, adding that they were “very excited and looking forward” to it.
“My sister is one of the best persons that I know in the world. She’s a very helpful person. She’s a nutritionist. She really always goes out of her way to help everyone, and I know that everyone that she knows and has helped is praying for her.
“My brother-in-law is a very hardworking person. He truly believes in work,” she said through tears.
Ms Bhatnagar appealed for more resources to be deployed for rescue operations.
“We really, really need the government to (deploy) people for rescue (efforts). Get location through companies like Apple and whoever can share location of all the tourists, so it’s easier for the rescue teams. It’s just a humble request,” she said.
“Please, please help us.”
The family has put out a missing persons poster, saying the couple travelled with tour company Himalayan Glacier.
NINE SINGAPOREANS MISSING
The Singaporeans are among more than 1,000 people missing after a wall of ice, mud and rock collapsed into a mountain river on Wednesday morning, triggering a catastrophic flash flood on the Nepal-Tibet border.
The death toll has risen to 469, as experts warn of the risk of a second flood.
Nepali authorities have released the names of 668 tourists reported missing as of Thursday, 2.15pm, including nine Singaporeans.
Apart from the Rawlas, the missing Singaporeans are Estee Loeh, Ghosh Aditi, Ng Kit Kuen, Rajesvaran Ayyavoo, Rengarajan Prabu, Shalinny Deavy Elan Sozan and Subramaniam Diraviam.
Most were travelling with Trekkers Society, Leaf Holiday or Himalayan Glacier, the list showed.
Singapore’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on Thursday it was in touch with the families of affected Singaporeans. The Singapore High Commission in New Delhi and the Singapore Embassy in Beijing are working closely with the Nepali and Chinese authorities, it added.
In a Zoom briefing on Friday morning that ran more than three hours and drew over 200 participants, Himalayan Glacier president and founder Sagar Pandey – whose tour group included the Rawlas – answered questions from families and friends of those missing.
Mr Pandey said 47 of the 54 people in the group were unaccounted for – 36 had been in hotels in Kailash and 11 were on their way to the border. The group was carrying a satellite phone but had not been able to make contact, he said.
The hotel where the group was staying is no longer standing, and seven of the tour group’s staff members are missing, he added.
Mr Pandey said his staff were “mountain people” and he had initially believed they could run to higher ground to escape the floods.
“But you know … the flood came almost 150 metres above the ground. So that’s why in the little time of the window, they could not have the chance to go up to that high hills immediately because the flash flood was so powerful and so speedy.
“And second, (the flood) came above the house, above the building, far away up. So that’s why it didn’t allow people to escape and run away up to the hills,” he said.
From the hotel, the flood would only have become visible when it was 1.5km away, he added.
In an Instagram post, Himalayan Glacier said Mr Pandey had flown by helicopter to the affected area but was unable to land.
OTHER MISSING SINGAPOREANS
Trekkers Society, the tour company that missing Singaporeans Ghosh Aditi and Ng Kit Kuen were travelling with, said in an Instagram post that 92 travellers in its Kailash Manasarovar pilgrimage group are missing – 77 foreign nationals and 15 Nepali citizens.
Himalayan Trekkers, a tour group under Leaf Holiday, said two of the missing Singaporeans – Rajesvaran Ayyavoo and Shalinny Deavy Elan Sozan – were travelling with them.
A company spokesperson told CNA that its last contact with one of its Nepali guides was at about 8am local time on Wednesday.
“As far as we know, his last message to a family member was at approximately 8.34am Nepal time, when he said that they were crossing the border,” the spokesperson said. Minutes later, local authorities informed the company that the flood had reached the border crossing area.
Source: CNA/er(cy)
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