‘Restlessness, and a kind of helplessness’: Families search for Indians missing after Nepal flood

In Mumbai, Sonal keeps opening WhatsApp to look at her sister’s last-seen status. Chetna Gupta, 64, had left the city on August 23 for the Mansarovar Yatra with Richa Travels, part of a tour group of more than 50 people. On the morning of August 25, when their mother spoke with her around 7:30 am, Chetna said she was on her way through customs clearance. That was the last conversation anyone in the family had with her. 

Chetna is one of at least 320 Indians who remain unaccounted for after a flash flood and landslide struck near the Nepal-Tibet border on August 26. In Mumbai, in Bengaluru, in homes across the country, families are living inside that number now – dialling helplines that give no new answers. A few have flown to Nepal, to look for their own people among the injured and the unclaimed.

Chetna’s son, brother, and brother-in-law are among them. They are in Kathmandu now, cycling through hospitals, asking after everyone who has come in since the disaster. Sonal, still in Mumbai, said “it’s an extremely difficult time for all of us”. 

“There is a lot of restlessness. I can’t even describe what we are going through. We are deeply distressed. It’s a kind of helplessness. You are just dialling numbers, over and over. We keep checking every Nepal-related X handle every few minutes. My son and brother are going from hospital to hospital, checking who has arrived.”

Among the missing from Mumbai is Dr Jan Dinesh Kotecha, a senior gastroenterologist from Malad, who had travelled to Nepal with his cousin, Roma Dilipbhai Intwala, on a trip organised through Richa Groups. The family’s last contact with him was around 8.30 am on August 26.

His cousin, Bhavik Tanna, has spent the days since scrolling through social media and working through a list of agencies.

“There is no update yet. We are constantly searching for them. Every agency we call tells us the same thing – that we will be informed if any information comes in. I am also continuously checking social media for updates,” he said.

Dr Kotecha’s brother, Vivek Nathwani, and his son flew to Nepal and are now in Trishuli, working through the embassy, the travel agent’s office, and near the site of the incident itself. His voice was heavy: “It’s a very difficult time for the family. I have reached Trishuli. I have visited the embassy, the travel agent’s office, and the site of the incident. I am heading to the hospital now. Right now, all I can do is pray.”

For 33-year-old Aarushi Gupta, the trail ends at the Rasuwa customs office, on the Nepal-Tibet border, where her family says she was last located. She had spoken to them around 7:50 am on August 26.

Aarushi had built a life in Hyderabad over the past five years, and had joined a Kailash Mansarovar Yatra group organised jointly by Hills and Trails in Mumbai and Richa Tours in Nepal, led by Dr Milind Chitale, who was travelling with the group when the flood hit. Before heading out from Kathmandu, she had stayed at Hotel Shanker. Her family has heard nothing solid since. They are now preparing to go to Nepal themselves.

Ramakrishna Nallapuri, 67, and his wife, Rema Kodanaraman, 64, both from Bengaluru, had set out on a 13-day trip with a Maharashtra-based travel group 67 people strong. Their son-in-law, Hrishi, has pieced together the timeline from what others in the group have said: several members last spoke to their families around 8 am on August 26. The couple were waiting to cross the border at the time – a detail the family only understood once news of the disaster broke around 2 pm that day and they realised it had happened exactly where Ramakrishna and Rema were standing.

Hrishi has tried to reach out to the Nepal Army, India's Ministry of External Affairs, the Karnataka and Maharashtra state helplines, embassy helplines besides. “We have informed all the relevant agencies,” he said. 

None of it has produced an answer so far. 

“We are in touch with several families, but it seems no one has any contact or information,” Hrishi said. “We have shared the details with the helplines of all the embassies. Right now we are relying on the Nepal government, the rescue teams, and the army to give us some information, because there is no connectivity across the entire flood-affected area. No one there is reachable, and no one can be reached.”

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