Australia says information on 34 missing citizens in Nepal is ‘very limited’
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More than 1,000 people, including at least 600 foreigners, are missing across Nepal and China’s Tibet.
PHOTO: REUTERS
- At least 34 Australian citizens are missing in Nepal after deadly floods caused by a mud and rock collapse into a Himalayan river.
- Many missing Australians were part of pilgrimage and tour groups, including 15 Indian-Australians on a religious tour to Mount Kailash.
- Rescue efforts face challenges due to limited access and information; a tourism chief estimated a 1% chance of survival in the flood zone.
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SYDNEY - Australia Foreign Minister Penny Wong said on Aug 27 at least 34 of its citizens on pilgrimages and tours in Nepal were missing following deadly floods, but information there was “very limited”.
More than 1,000 people, including at least 600 foreigners, are missing across Nepal and China’s Tibet, the authorities said on Aug 27, after a wall of mud and rock collapsed into a Himalayan river, sending catastrophic floods through towns and valleys.
Wong said at least 34 Australians were among the hundreds missing.
“We understand these Australians are part of separate pilgrimage and tour groups,” she told a news conference on Aug 27.
“At this stage, access and information are very limited given the scale of disaster... we are urgently seeking to confirm the welfare and whereabouts of Australians.”
Himalayan Glacier, a tourism agency operating in the area, confirmed that 15 of the missing Australians were on a religious tour to Mount Kailash that it was organising.
The group also included people from India, the US, Canada and Singapore.
“They were on a pilgrimage. They were planning to enter Tibet and go to the Mount Kailash and (Lake) Manasarovar, which is one of the holiest landmarks on earth,” chief executive Sagar Pandey told Reuters.
All 15 were Indian-Australians, with the youngest being an 11-year-old boy, he said.
Pandey said he had flown over the flood zone by helicopter and believed there was only a “1 per cent chance” of survival.
“There are no human-made things, no human settlement left. Everything is just flat... I believe that everybody is gone.” REUTERS
