Aftermath of the flood in Nuwakot, Nepal, on Friday. Photograph: Shankar Bhujel/JNA/Zuma Press Wire/ShutterstockAftermath of the flood in Nuwakot, Nepal, on Friday. Photograph: Shankar Bhujel/JNA/Zuma Press Wire/ShutterstockAt least 90 Americans missing in Nepal flood among 2,000 unaccounted forOfficial death toll approaches 600, with many of the missing Americans having been on a pilgrimage to a sacred site
At least 90 Americans were still missing on Friday among almost 2,000 people unaccounted for following the catastrophic flash flood along the Nepal-Tibet border on Wednesday.
With the official death toll creeping towards 600 on Friday and expected to continue rising, there were survivors, victims and missing people from many nationalities.
“We can confirm that three American citizens have been safely rescued in Nepal. We are not aware of any US citizen deaths at this time,” the state department said on Thursday, USA Today reported. At least 90 Americans who were in the affected area remained unaccounted for.
The Guardian has reached out to the state department for additional comment.
Many of the Americans who are missing were on a pilgrimage to Mount Kailash, a sacred site in Tibet revered by several faiths, including Hinduism and Buddhism.
There were 22 Americans returning from a pilgrimage hosted by the Isha Foundation, among 80 foundation members not yet located, founder and spiritual leader Sadhguru Vasudev said in a statement Thursday. The India-based spiritual organization has a US campus in Tennessee.
Leslie Crespi, a community liaison for the foundation’s US campus, said: “We had communication with the coordinator of the group at about 9.05am Nepalese time [Wednesday] saying that they had arrived there. And then by 9.14am is when this flash flood hit.”
Crespi described the trekkers as “like family”, adding that it was a “lifelong dream to go and be there” in Nepal for many of them.
Among the missing Americans is 45-year-old Venus Rajnikant Patel. His brother, Dennis, said Patel, who had recently moved from St Louis to Cincinnati, had been planning the pilgrimage for two years.
Patel’s friend Jolene Gosha said his hotel had been in the flood zone and “we’re just hoping, hoping, that by some chance he was able to climb his way out of it … I don’t want to give myself false hope because I know the reality is that he’s probably not with us.”
Meanwhile, the family of 72-year-old Jitendra Patel of Long Island in New York were still trying to reach him, his son Sunny Patel said.
Patel said his father called on Wednesday morning to say he had crossed into Tibet, and the family later realized he was in the flood zone.
“My heart sank,” Patel said, adding that he “didn’t think it was possible that my dad would be there at ‘ground zero’” of the flooding disaster.
The family is “maybe hopeful”, he said, but they have not heard from him and their WhatsApp messages remain unanswered. “It gets worse by every hour, obviously,” Patel added.
Also missing are Rekha and Rashi Shashidharan, a New York mother and 14-year-old daughter who were also on a pilgrimage to Mount Kailash.
They had spent several days in Kathmandu acclimating to the altitude before traveling towards Tibet with a tour group, Shekhar Agrawal, Rekha’s brother, told CNN.
Agrawal last spoke to them around 7.30am local time on Wednesday before they planned to cross into Tibet. “After that, there was radio silence, nothing, no contact whatsoever,” Agrawal said, adding that he believes they may have still been at their hotel when the flood hit.
Marco Rubio, the US secretary of state, said the US “stands ready to support the government of Nepal with needed humanitarian assistance”.
Meanwhile, the US embassy in Nepal said that the state department will “provide $500,000 (approximately 76 million Nepali rupees) in assistance through a global grant to Catholic Relief Services, which will help flood-affected communities with emergency shelter and relief supplies, as well as water, sanitation, and hygiene support”.
The Associated Press contributed reporting
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